"Street Joy" is such a good track, that you'll have to hear their whole collection - White Denim
Best New Band of 2011
#8 Hummingbird Award – White Denim
Yeah we don’t really give a hoot that they’ve been playing music since 2006. A couple of records under the belt and D finally gives them a break-thru moment! The new record D is rock your socks off good. “Street Joy” is 2011’s “Bittersweet Symphony” or something like that. It’s so good, you’ll want to Spotify the bands first record. I just used “Spotify” as a verb. Crap…I was so irritated when I actually had to accept “text” as a verb, now that kid at the 7-11 is gonna say “Dude just Spotify me the song.” White Denim is like our faves here at NBD, Tame Impala. If that gives you any indication of their sound then why the hell are you reading this post, get listening.
Vitals:
Hometown: Austin, TX
Members: Josh Block (drums), Steve Terebecki (bass), and James Petralli (guitars, vocals)
Sonic Soulmates™: Tame Impala, Boyish U2, Shabazzzzzz
Trackables™:
“Street Joy” – So so so so so so GOOD!
Best New Band of 2011
#9 Hummingbird Award – Sun Airway
I don’t how it works really. The bands just stick in our heads. Sun Airway is only on our list because of our band crush on Lord Huron. He’s the Little Mermaid hipster. We keep getting caugt in the seaweed and we just can’t get out. Sun Airway drives home the underwater dreaminess for 2011. They are amazing. We’re not just saying that…they really deserve the nod.
Vitals:
Hometown: Philadelphia-based project
Members: ex-A-Sides Patrick Marsceill and Jon Bathmus
Sonic Soulmates™: Lord Huron, Animal Collective, The Pomegranates, Here We Go Magic (Featured on NBD 3.25.10)
Trackables™:
“Swallowed By The Night”
Capturing that moment when an artist is about to crack the mainstream...hear La Sera now. Photo by http://www.lesphotosduphil.fr
Best New Band of 2011
#10 Hummingbird Award – La Sera
Ahhh, we love when an artist decides to step out and take a chance on their own. La Sera or Katy Goodman took a pause from Vivian Girls, grabbed a few friends flew to Seattle, recorded an album, two videos and has created one of the purest Spectorian albums of 2011. She is a beautiful specimen.
Vitals:
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Members: Katy Goodman (bass, vox), Jenn Prince (guitar, vox) and Jonathan Weinberg (drums, vox, keys)
Sonic Soulmates™: Tennis, My Bloody Valentine, Phil Spector 50′s ladies
Trackables™
“Devils Hearts Grow Gold”
Hummingbird Award #11 - Suuns --- One of the best new bands of 2011
Best New Band of 2011
#11 Hummingbird Award – Suuns
Thank God, Arizona Turk is persistent. We buried his email about Suuns back in 2010 and it was this past February that we finally got our act together and posted. Wow. Really, just one big wow. They’re minimalist, they’re Canadian and they take a lot of inspiration from the likes of Clinic and Thievery Corp. We miss the Turk, where are you but we love Suuns.
Vitals:
Hometown – Montreal, Canada
Members – Ben Shemie, Liam O’Neill, Max Henry, Joseph Yarmush
Sonic Soulmates – MGMT, Clinic, The Besnard Lakes, The Kills, Thievery Corporation with some Beck vocals
Trackables™
“Arena”
12 reasons to love 2011 and WATERS. Stop listening to drivel and listen to WATERS
Best New Band of 2011
#12 Hummingbird Award – WATERS
Van Pierszalowski formerly of Port O’Brien, which is no more (so sad), traversed the coasts from Alaska to Oslo back to SF and he’s created more aqually awesome music. Flowing tempos and Lord Huron vocals make us love him so much more. The tri-coastal hero is superhero amongst us all…Yo La Tengo in nature. The love is gushing and
Vitals:
Hometown: Oslo, Norway; San Francisco, CA; Brooklyn, NY
Members: Van Pierszalowski
Sonic Soulmates™: Yo La Tengo, Phosphorescent
Trackables™:
“O Holy Break of Day”
Don't punish us for joining the mainstream, but Lana Del Rey is soooo good. It's hard not to be a lover!
Best New Band of 2011
#13 Hummingbird Award – Lana Del Rey
The Spectorian sounds of 2011 all started back in January or maybe it was the hangover from 2010. Lana Del Rey is talented, but her attention is at it’s peak all without a record. She is due for her LA meltdown at this point..although, her album is due in January and it will sell lots o’lots of records. You be the judge, but we loved her in January and we still love her today.
Vitals:
Hometown: Brooklyn, NY/ Hollywood
Members: Lana Del Rey
Sonic Soulmates™: Stevie Nicks, Dolly Parton (in tone), The Shirelles, Fiona Apple, Tennis, The Ronettes
Trackables™:
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!
When it comes to XX/XY duos, the year has been dry as the Thanksgiving turkey from your negligent alcoholic mother. I’m sad about it. We were crazed in 2010, something like 30 of them. The Bowerbirds are a 2006ish Raliegh, NC creation. Many members, many iterations and three quality records. Love the new one that released back in March. Just now, Dead Oceans is servicing the new single to college radio and Sirius/XMU. Hear it below. They’re folky, but The Clearing, the new record, tackles the upbeat ebb and flow of a duo. I like ’em a lot and I think you’ll see them in early December on our Hummingbird lists.
Vitals:
Hometown: Raliegh, NC
Members: Phil Moore + Beth Tacular + Yan Westerlund + Mark Paulson + Leah Gibson
Sonic Soulmates™: Arcade Fire, The Dodos, Megafaun, Devendra Banhart
Trackables™:
“Tuck The Darkness In”
Gardens & Villa open your eyes your about to break!
BOD 11.11.11 Gardens & Villa
It’s been awhile and I apologize. Today we’ve found a band that may just be the Hummingbird winner of 2011. Can’t believe these guys have flown under the radar for this long. I’m assuming they will pop up on some irrelevant TV show soon, but in the meantime steal their fame and be the first to follow.
Gardens & Villa are a combination of GOOD Vampire Weekend a splash of MGMT and a great reason to pull out The Shins ancient relics and give them a spin. The boys hail from our favorite turkey time villa of Santa Barbara, CA. Their synth pop indie rock is right in line with the shiat today. This band won’t be under the radar, they’ll be in every commercial right around February. The band formed in 2008, joined Secretly Canadian and befriended our good friend Richard Swift. He influenced this self-titled beauty and you really really really need to get yourself a copy. Buy it on vinyl here
Vitals:
Hometown: Santa f’n Barbara, CA….the album was recorded in Oregon Members: Chris Lynch, keyboardist Adam Rasmussen, bassist Shane McKillop, and drummer Levi Hayden Sonic Soulmates™: The Shins, MGMT, Vampire Weekend (the good not lame version), The Police, Richard Swift Trackables™:
“Black Hills”
Port O'Brien flooded with WATERS and the sound is magnificent
BOD (10.26.11) WATERS
It’s easy to say that bands these days are derivative. I hear so many people refer to bands as “Sounding like…” or “These guys are so derivative of…” that too easy. Making music isn’t easy and if you’re a talented artist and you do the work, then you shouldn’t have to suffer from comparisons. It’s hard not to, we even showcase our “Sonic Soulmates” because it makes it more palatable for the listener, but I have to admit that it bias the listening experience. You instantly think of the artist referred then the artist playing. The reason for this diatribe is that our BOD WATERS just doesn’t conjure up that easy comparison. Making our job so much easier today. Van Pierszalowski formerly of Port O’Brien, which is no more (so sad), traversed the coasts from Alaska to Oslo back to SF and he’s created more aqually awesome music. You could say that his reverb heavy garage rock sounds are college radio friendly, but I tend lean towards his softer approach that still cranks out troubling guitar riffs and distorted ear piercing sounds. He’s getting all the play and his vocals hover around Yo La Tengo. Grab the new record Out In The Night and make your day with new music.
Vitals:
Hometown: Oslo, Norway; San Francisco, CA; Brooklyn, NY
Members: Van Pierszalowski
Sonic Soulmates™: Yo La Tengo?
Trackables™:
“For the One”
Really there are days, weeks when I just get bored listening to the same old drivel. I try not to remind myself how great it used to be…when one band from one new area from say Toronto, led to a slew of fantastic artists. Wow, that was just last year. Sometimes, I just have to remember that great music isn’t easy to find. I feel like our excavators have exhausted The Swedes, The Canadians, Chicago, San Francisco, the well seemed dried up. But then, I found a this lonely ‘ol lost track from Apparat, dream pop artist who had two records on Shitkatapult now on Mute. His new record The Devil’s Walk is great commute music. Calming dream-pop that conjures up 80’s revivalists like Cocteau or Roxy and then layered in a little James Blake. I feel good about today’s selection and I think you’ll find love in Apparat.
Vitals:
Hometown: Berlin, Germany
Members: Sacha Ring
Sonic Soulmates: Four Tet, Cocteau Twins, Sigur Ros
Trackables:
“Black Water”
Don't Be Alarmed, People Still Go to the LIbrary and They Still Whisper
Band of the Day (10.11.11) Library Voices
I still have the urge to post more information about our “Already Profiled” bands that have new records. There are so many, it’s hard to keep up. We can’t forget about the new ones, we really can’t. Today’s band is a Canadian delight. Now that we’re finally over the maple leaf obsession, we get a band from Regina, Saskatchewan, CA dead center of Winnipeg and Calgary. Some of the most beautiful country in the world, but it’s damn cold. The band Bon Iver’d up in a small town of Kronau (population: 209) to record their sophomore record and it’s quite good. The band has not been on the golden road to Oz, their trailers have been robbed, their instruments and studio destroyed in a flood, but the seven piece Reginates are aiming for their own US rocket ship. The record hits next Tuesday and we have a track or two below. Think of the bell clanging female backed Los Campesinos combined with 80’s horn driven favorites like Bruce Hornsby and then sprinkle in some good ‘ol home cooked Canadian bacon like Stars and The Dears and you have Library Voices. Love ’em and you will be hearing them all over soon.
Vitals:
Hometown: Regina, Saskatchewan, CA
Members:
Amanda Scandrett – keyboards /vocals
Paul Gutheil – saxophone / vocals
Michael Thievin – drums
Brennan Ross – Guitar /vocals
Carl Johnson – lead vocals
Michael Dawson – keyboards / vocals
Eoin Hickey-Cameron – bass guitar
Sonic Soulmates: Los Campesinos, The Dears, Stars, The Range with Bruce Hornsby
Trackables:
“Generation Handclap”
2011 is shaping up to be the year of second records. Or at least the “Next” record for many of our NBD favorites. Seriously, I think this new age of releasing EPs has helped turn these bands into better album makers. These records are great! Seriously better than we expected. Just download the new Girls record and you’ll hear for yourself. That’s right, albums from our favorite “Already Profiled” bands. Below find the links to these artists and the link to their new records. And yes they are in order of our favorite. Support the bands and their plans! If you click through to a Facebook link, it’s only because we featured those artists on our FB page before we launched the blog.
1. Widowspeak – The new album is here and it’s VERY VERY good. The two tracks on their profile are included on their self-titled record.
“Puritan” – If haven’t been listening then are you okay? Because everyone’s talking about Widowspeak. Buy Now
2. Girls – Father, Son, Holy Ghost is so good, I think I’ve listened to it about 1000 times. The bad is maturing and you can hear it in their sound.
“Vomit” – Heard this once and I’ve been listening to it on repeat for months. I hate repeat, but I don’t hate this track. Buy now
3. Yuck – Yuck S/TEverybody has them on their list now. It’s cool. At least we can say we profiled them over 18 months ago. Love these guys because they bring back what I loved so much about The Smashing Pumpkins, dual overlayed guitars and the Sonic Youth obsession. These Canadians may be the lone leftovers of last year’s obsession with the maple leaf. Great band!
“Georgia” – Wow. 90’s rock. Sonic Youth meets The Pumpkins meets Screaming Trees meets flannels and boots. Buy now
4. Balam Acab – Wander/Wonder – Alec Koone has been our obsession for some time and this full length is so worth the vinyl.
“Oh Why” – Haunting for your October chill. Just a great track. Buy now
5. Cults – Cults S/T – These tracks ended up in our inbox about 16 months ago. They were sly and anonymous, but everyone seemed to get the same mail. We called around and everyone said the same thing “Did you hear that track” we were all in shock, and we wanted more. Well we got a record and it is just as good. So good.
6. Washed Out – Within and Without – Chill summer music, perfect for the beach or a romp under the sheets. So shows the album cover. We loved him back in 2010 and 2011 has been a break-out year for him.
“Amor Fati” – Spacey dreamy track from one of our favorite digs. Buy now
7. Toro Y Moi – Underneath The Pine – I’ve spent the better part of 35 years focusing on music and what I like. My tastes are my tastes, but I’ve never been more moved when I heard TYM for the first time. Now he’s three LPs and a few EPs in and his maturity is showing.
8. Nurses – New album Dracula is so friggin good. The Muse and I saw this Portland trio open live at the haunted Brookdale lodge in Santa Cruz for last years NBD #1 artist Tallest Man on Earth. The track is below and it’s good!
“Fever Dreams” – Hard to describe this track. Just listen Buy now
9. Real Estate – Days Really one of our favorite finds from 2009 that carried over to 2010 and has stayed with us. The album comes out next week, but we know it will be great.
“Green Aisles” – Can you see the excitement. Well you can at least listen to it. Buy now
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