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”
Seapony are what make music. Spector soul with a lot of dreamy spice.
Band of the Day (5.23.11) Seapony
There was a time last year where all we could talk about at NBD was the power of Tennis. The married Denver couple that sailed the high seas of the Atlantic, wrote amazing songs about inlets and seaports and then crushed it with a fantastic record. We missed that series of knock-offs, that usually follow successful indie trends. Days, months and almost a year went by before we heard a knock-off or at least a band that sounded similarly good. Seapony does the dreamy, female led 50’s pop that made 2010 a great music year. Seapony does that Phil Spector sound so well, you almost forget that you’re listening to contemporary music. The Seattle trio, give us one of our favorite tracks of 2011…so far. You’ll be getting this in your email box if you a fan on Facebook. The album releases on 5/31…pre-order it here. By the way we love them even more for their midwestern roots..Oklahoma and of course Lawrence, KS home to our Music Muse.
Vitals:
Hometown: Seattle, WA
Members: Seapony is songwriter Danny Rowland, singer Jen Weidl, and bass player Ian Brewer
Sonic Soulmates: La Sera, Tennis, Eternal Summers, Emily Haines
Trackables:
“Always” – My fave from these lads…one of our 5 for 11.
“With You” – Tennis served well in 2011. Good solid Spector 50’s pop track
Montreal is not just Arcade Fire land...it's home to the coolest band of 2011 The Luyas
Band of the Day 3.15.11 The Luyas
Another Canadian band, and this time it’s an ensemble with three records to their credit. The Luyas performed live for the first time in December 2006, released their first record, Faker Death in August 2007, and now have Too Beautiful To Work , one of the coolest records of the year. Buy it here on Vinyl please. They’re part Stereolab’s cool free form electronic rock/jazz with the simplicity of Architecture of Helsinki and the celebration of Los Campesinos! At times I think I’m listening to a clever Bjork album with Jessie’s vocals, but really I find her vocals to be right in line with our past BOD La Sera. It’s a moody album and the band definitely shows it’s Arcade Fire DNA. If you’re already a fan, then pass the link along, if not let them know how cool they are.
Vitals:
Hometown: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Members:
Pietro Amato
Mathieu Charbonneau
Stefan Schneider
Jessie Stein
Sonic Soulmates: Los Campesinos!, La Sera, Stereolab, Tortoise and a little Arcade Fire
Trackables: “Tiny Head” – My favorite track from the new record!
Vivian Girls peaceful little bird creates a beauty with La Sera
Band of the Day (2.22.11) La Sera
I’m getting the sneaking suspicion that this year’s lot of new artists are falling into two camps. The female led, fuzzy Spectors and the garage rockers. There have been some outliers, but not enough to say that they have a clan of bands. La Sera falls into the Spector ladies. The Vivian Girls are fantastic and their dreamy morbid pop is always beautiful and their spin-offs are getting just as much press. Many of you probably have La Sera’s limited 7″ spinning on your iPhone or you may have picked up their self-titled LP last week. If you have, then you know that they are worthy of the Band of the Day nod. In February 2010 Katy Goodman started working on some new material that birthed La Sera. Her inspiration is part an attraction to early pop hits from the 1950’s and the other part an obsession with choral harmonies. The music of La Sera is less aggressive than Vivian Girls and has a more peaceful choir sound. Katy met Brady Hall (the director of Vivian Girls videos “Moped Girls” and “When I’m Gone”), and they immediately collaborated, flew to Seattle and the two recorded all the vocals, mixed the songs and filmed two La Sera music videos at Brady’s home studio. The albums dozen or so tracks stemmed from these sessions. Hear our three faves below.
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
Must Hear Tracks: “Devils Heart Grows Gold” – Quite possibly the best track from her!
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