Best Bands of 2010
#19 Hummingbird Award – Miniature Tigers
From Phoenix, AZ to Brooklyn’s Park Slope, Miniature Tigers have been on the edge of major stardom for 4 years. This years Fortress could qualify as the record of the year. It’s a beautiful mesh of Supergrass and minimalistic electronic beats. At times the band vibes like it’s 2006, then at times they pluck and prod their way like Panda Bear or Toro y Moi.
Vitals:
Hometown – Brooklyn, NY
Members – Frontman-guitarist Charlie Brand, Rick Schaier on drums and vocals, Algernon Quashie on guitar, keyboard and vocals, and on bass and vocals.
Sonic Soulmates – Supergrass, Panda Bear, Toro y Moi and Vampire Weekend
Track of the Year:
“Goldskull” – I told you it would be on our list of top for 2010.
First of all let me thank you! This is the First Annual Hummingbird Awards and we owe it to you. This has been an amazing year for us here at NBD. We profiled over 200 bands, bands have thanked us and you fans have been supportive of us. So to close out this year, we going to count ’em down. It’s time, we’ve taken the last week to study our picks. We’ve found a few things..
1. You fans love your bands
2. Canada is producing some amazing music in 2010
3. Sweden and the Nordics are producing even better music (I’ll leave it to you to defend your music)
4. The Pet Sound was hot in early 2010, but it’s been replaced by….
5. XX/XY duos – WOW there a ton of female/male duos this year.
6. Singer songwriters will be all over our top 10
7. Arizona Turk has a lot to say about the list
8. We don’t give the award to bands that have already made it…we reward the ones who need it.
9. Our favorite band of the year is a shocker
10. Hummingbirds are amazing birds…Your Band Wants To Win a Hummingbird!
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.
So you know we love Kristian Matsson and we’ve followed the trajectory of his career. In 2010, he’s taken off and we couldn’t be happier. Us NBDers who’ve been following the Band of the Days since the beginning know the brilliance of The Tallest Man on Earth. We even voted him the #2 band for the first half of 2010. Well a few weeks back, he released his newest EP — Sometimes the Blues is Just a Passing Bird on iTunes. A few tracks you already know, but a few brand new ones…they’re posted below for you to hear. Also posted a bonus track for you to enjoy.
June 1st marked the mid-year for 2010. We compiled our favorite bands from the past 6 months and posted them on our original Twitter and Facebook profiles. Now we’ll recap them here for your enjoyment.
10. Sleepy Sun BOD: (3.25.10) SLEEPY SUN –> SXSW’s darlings in 2010, SF via Santa Cruz dream core brings me my new favorite band.
9. Morning Benders BOD: (3.13.10) –> Berkeley residents, bring big indie sound to the SF scene.
8. Toro Y Moi BOD: (5.26.10) TORO Y MOI – Chazwick Bundick created a new sound, a new style and frankly a kick-ass set of tracks. Chillwave is now here and Chaz invented it.
7. Phantogram BOD: (5.18.10) PHANTOGRAM – A splendid electro-duo bringing street beat, trip-hop a little soul and a little Portishead sprinkled in. Promise that this will be the band you can claim for 2010. They are The XX of 2010.
6. Efterklang BOD: (3.1.10) EFTERKLANG—> bring an end to the February Winter blues with Efterklang. Denmark’sMads Brauer, Casper Clausen, Thomas Husmer & Rasmus Stolberg bring us sweet music. Must have album “Magic Chairs”
5. Foreign Born BOD: (5.3.10) FOREIGN BORN – Rogue Wave and The Walkmen inspired these SF boys to make the trek to the shady side of LA. Silver Lake water has turned them into a damn fine band. Vampire Weekend should be worried, because they solve they out do them.
4. Sleigh Bells BOD: (3.23.10) SLEIGH BELLS –> Do not adjust your sound, it’s meant to blow the treble out of the water. CMJ darlings and NY/FLA finest. This is the band of all bands for 2010. Watch them rip “South of Heaven” into “Tell Em” Even more reason to love them.
3. Real Estate BOD: (2.18.10) Real Estate – Jersey/Brooklyn’s finest Mondanile, Courtney, Duguay and Bleeker bring their self titled beach sounds.
2. The Tallest Man on Earth…BOD: (4.22.10) THE TALLEST MAN ON EARTH – Must hear Dylan protege. His second album is a beauty. Bob Dylan’s protege hits the hills of Scandinavia and you must hear it. This is the best singer songwriter for 2010 and beyond. You must see him live and please buy his album.
Top New band of 2010 so far….The Radio Dept.
BOD: (3.2.10) RADIO DEPT. Yesterday the Danes, today the Swedes. They’ve been at it for years even on the Coppolla currated Marie Antoinette sdtk. This band melds fantastic 80’s space age synth with a unique sound that will surely make them your NEW FAVORITE BAND! We promise. We talked about them in March and we still believe they are the soul of New.Band.Day.
Best Bands of 2010
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