Class Actress sheds light on what can be good in 2012.
Uncorked™ Class Actress
I’m a sucker for female leads. I’m also a sucker for minimalist electronic music. The stuff you can create on your kid’s toys…all said, simple beats and unlayered tracks may replace the cluttered underwater gargle we’ve been dealing with over the past two years. Class Actress is one stellar example of the mid-80’s Kate Bush led Depeche Mode tribute sound. Elizabeth Harper is the muse that leads Class Actress, having been at electronic music since 2009, she drafted the help of producers Mark Richardson and Scott Rosenthal. They created what is today one of our favorite late ’11 and early ’12 faves. Where Chairlift bores and drones, Class Actress soars. Her new record Rapprocher was released late 2011 it good and her following is growing fast. Elizabeth is Alexis Krauss of Sleigh Bells without the anger, she’s what makes music great these days. Here’s to a new age of female leads in 2012.
Vitals: Hometown: Brooklyn, NY via Philadelphia, PA Members: Elizabeth Harper Sonic Soulmates™: Twin Sister, Depeche Mode, Kate Bush, Chairlift Trackables™:
“Weekend”
Is this becoming the year of selfish band names? I Break Horses bring home cooked Swedish dream pop.
Uncorked™ I Break Horses
When we listen to music, we often joke here about how it made you feel. It most cases, we don’t feel anything. In some cases we tap our toes and in the rare case we get that chill up our spine and the hair on our head tingles. I’m not a scientist, so I can’t explain why that happens, but I can say that’s a good thing. I remember the first time I heard all of my favorite bands. I Break Horses isn’t your typical dream gaze XX/XY duo. Fredrik Balck, is the instrumental guy, and Maria Lindén who handles the vocals met in 2008 under unusual circumstances: both self-professed hypochondriacs, visited the same online medical sites, discovered they shared friends as well as a passion the same music. Their tracks aren’t layered in heavy shoe gaze wall of sound, rather, they take the Washed Out route and keep the instrumentals simple. Maybe two-three layered tracks with Maria’s beautiful voice adorning the sound. They use their fear of dying as inspiration for their lyrics, focusing on the fragility of life. I will say that the first time I heard Hearts that chill ran up my spine and NO I wasn’t worried that I had some rare spinal virus…Thank you again to AZ Turk for adding them to his Top Gems of 2011
Vitals: Hometown: Stockholm, Sweden Members: Fredrik Balck, Maria Lindén Sonic Soulmates™: Washed Out, Jesus and Mary Chain, Echo Lake Trackables™:
“Hearts”
The ghosts of Port O'Brien come to life with a record built for a Hummingbird Award - Ryan Stively
Uncorked™ Ryan Stively
Port O’Brien breaking up messed with my head. I loved their last record Threadbare so much, it was a combination of Built to Spill and Bowerbirds. Folky, fuzzy and good. Then they dissolved the unit, Van floated over to WATERS and Ryan Stively, the long-time member and co-conspirator has now stepped out to create some southern fried, San Francisco gems on his debut record Soft Kingdom. It was recorded over the span of 6 months on borrowed and leftover studio time with former tour-mate and Portland multi-instrumentalist Cory Gray (Carcrashlander, Desert City Soundtrack). It’s part Broken Social Scene, part National brooding and a whole lot of Wilco (Tweedy) or even Bridwell’s stylings for Band of Horses…hell even a little M. Wardy. These 8 tracks could rival any record we’ve heard in the past 6 months. Buy it here.
Vitals: Hometown: Portland, OR, San Francisco, CA (Right in our own backyard) Members: Ryan Stively (Port O’Brien), Cambria Goodwin (Port O’Brien), Graham LeBron (Rogue Wave, Album Leaf) and Joey Ficken (Sea Wolf) appear. Sonic Soulmates™: Bowerbirds, Wilco, Broken Social Scene, Rogue Wave, M. Ward Trackables™:
“We Forget Everything”
Arizona Turk loved them, so should you. I Heart Sharks.
If you’re not familiar, this is our key feature, we’ve called it Band of the Day, BUT starting today for 2012, we’re going to rename Band of the Day to Uncorked…these are what we consider the BEST NEW BANDS of 2012, the ones you should put on a playlist and listen to religiously. We love them so we share.
So if you read our blog religiously you know Arizona Turk. He’s our primary music excavator, digging for new bands and truly a maverick of music. His 2011 Year End Gems was shocking, bands that we’ve barely heard a whisper of and HIS FAVORITE NEW BAND is I Heart Sharks. We questioned him but he responded with “Just listen.” So we did and we pledged after that first listen to UNCORK them first in 2012. The first band to be Uncorked on NBD. Kind of a big, deal. I Heart Sharks, it’s German synth rock with an added Brit rock clean guitar flare and the vocal stylings of Friendly Fires. Their love of 80’s First Wave is clearly evident and I think it might be the first time A Brit, A German and a Parisian (we think) have created music together…well maybe not the first time, but definitely unique. They met sometime in 2007 in one of Berlin’s many clubs, toured a little bit through Germany, played Festivals and late last year we got their first full-length. Think of them as Scandinavian electro-pop with Berlin’s house music and the perfect dash of British flare.
Vitals:
Hometown: Berlin, Germany DE, Paris, FR, London
Members:
Pierre Bee
Simon Wangemann
Georg Steinmaier
Sonic Soulmates™: Friendly Fires, Passion Pit, Foals
Trackables™:
“Summer” –
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.
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.
Everybody loves them because they're better than everyone. The Vaccines!
Best New Band of 2011
#3 Hummingbird Award – The Vaccines
Don’t hold it against us because The Vaccines are so damn popular, but rather, you should relish in it, enjoy it. They are so good and we were there back in January. We were sent the single “If You Wanna” and we thought the same thing…two minute romp Strokes style. So we wrote them off in 2010. Then What Did You Expect From The Vaccines, and truly, we didn’t expect it to be this good. Really, it was shockingly Is This It good. They’re better than any rock band of the last 2 years. Truly, Surfer Blood and the likes all wish they could be The Vaccines.
Vitals:
Hometown: London, UK
Members: Justin Young, Árni Hjörvar, Freddie Cowan, Pete Robertson
Sonic Soulmates™: The Strokes, Chapel Club, Surfer Blood
Trackables™:
“Blow It Up”
“Wrecking Ball (Ra Ra Ra)” – This song plays every time I play my FIFA 2012 on my iPhone!
California dreaming with post punk love music from Oakland, CA's EMA
Best New Band of 2011
#4 Hummingbird Award – EMA
I had a very hard time choosing this spot. There are about 10 bands that deserve to be in our Top 10 Best New Artists of 2011, but truly, we can’t fit them all. The Hummingbird Award is special. It’s for those bands that make a dent in the universe. Do something extraordinary…create a stellar record, great series of singles, great live artist, whatever it is, the artist needs to make an impression, much the like the loveliest bird on Earth, the Hummingbird. EMA made her mark early in the year. She’s a little bit country, a whole lot of 80’s industrial goth and a layering of folky noise that will make you regret falling in love with her. I think she’s the type of woman that just makes you feel regret, but addiction at the same time. You know what I’m talking about. We just adore EMA here at NBD, and by the way, I’m writing this on BART as I pass by her exit here at West Oakland, so take that EMA.
Vitals:
Hometown: West Oakland … originally from South Dakota
Members: Erika M. Anderson, Nicole Anderson, Nicky Mao, Leif Shackelford
Sonic Soulmates™: Zola Genius, Sleigh Bells, Early Hole
Trackables™:
“The Grey Ship”
The wiseman bringeth on his Daptone debut. Charles Bradley #5 Best New Artist of 2011
Best New Band of 2011
#5 Hummingbird Award – Charles Bradley
As we mentioned back in March, this might be the oldest New Band (Artist) ever featured at NBD. Charles Bradley is a modern soul man, writing and singing from truth of experience, Bradley owns his words and you can feel it. This wise man of soul brings a timeless classic to our ears with his new debut record No Time for Dreaming. Soulful, heart-wrenching vocals make you feel as if the 60′s never ended. Charles heals his broken heart on this record and you can hear every painful to healing moment. You might argue that 25 year career puts Bradley out of the New Band territory, but we argue that this is truly is break-out moment. You’re never too young to fly like a Hummingbird
Vitals:
Hometown: Brooklyn, NY (Bushwick)
Members: Charles Bradley, The Menahan Street Band (Leon Michels, Toby Pazner, Nick Movshon, Aaron Johnson, Mike Deller, Daniel Fodder, Dave Guy, Homer Steinweiss, Fernando Velez, Bosco Mann)
Sonic Soulmates™: James Brown, Bill Withers, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Tyrone Davis
Trackables™:
“Golden Rule”
I haven't been this in love since last week. WIdowspeak soothes my soul. So deserving of the Hummingbird
Best New Band of 2011
#6 Hummingbird Award – Widowspeak
Ahhh the Spectorian sounds of 2011 all started back in January or maybe it was the hangover from 2010. Tennis, Cloud Nothings, etc. all slammed us with the airy 60’s pop female led bands. Our favorite and our fan favorite was Widowspeak. No band got more attention on NBD this year than Widowspeak. Why? A. They’re good. B. They had a new record hit mid-year and C. Molly crushes the vocals. This three time zone trio is a treat and we hope you find them Top 10 worthy on your list.
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
Trackables™:
Emanating from the underground is a new sound that chills the bone - Dirty Beaches
Best New Band of 2011
#7 Hummingbird Award – Dirty Beaches
You might hear Alex and think it’s a novelty, but I assure you that it’s not. The “dirtiness” is a great description, he sounds like the aura of Elvis emanating from an opium den. It’s dirty, etherial and mind altering. Just listen to the tracks below and you’ll find that they’re unique enough to give him the nod for one of the greatest new artists of 2011. Enjoy.
Vitals:
Hometown: East Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Members: Alex Zhang Hungtai; solo performer, sound-smith, and trans-Pacific nomad. Born in Taiwan, Hungtai has made Toronto, Honolulu, Montreal, and Vancouver his homes.
Sonic Soulmates™: Lou Reed, Roy Orbison, Misfits, if Depeche Mode came from the 60′s and early 60′s beat bands…
Trackables™:
“Lord Knows Best”
NewBandDay 