These 10 bands all of the potential of taking off this summer. Check them out in your area before the public catches on.
Cymbals Eat Guitars
The Everyday Visuals
Takka Takka
French Kicks
The Swayback
The Electric Soft Parade
Whitley
The Oxford Collapse
The Brave Little Abacus
Thick As Thieves
You might recognize that mug from indie friendly films by Wes Anderson and Anand Tucker, but Jason Schwartzman’s talents go beyond the big screen. Back in the day, he was the drummer for Phantom Planet, but as his film career grew, he began to focus on acting. Luckily for us he missed making music enough to do some solo work and two years ago graced us with the initial release from Coconut Records, Nighttiming. His Follow up album “Davy” is an eclectic mix of songs that would fit perfectly within the style of films he tends to star in.
Highlights Include, “Any Fun“, “Wandering”, and the records first single “Microphone”:
Reviewed Reviews:
AWMusic
PopDose
Helpful Links:
Home Page
Upcoming Tour Dates:
None.
Check out “Microphone” here:
The Handsome Furs are an indie rock band from Montreal, Canada comprised of husband/wife duo Dan Boeckner, from Wolf Parade and Atlas Strategic, and his wife Alexei Perry. The music features Dan playing guitar over heavy synth drum machine beats manufactured by Alexei. The couples sophomore album “Face Control” paints a picture of post-Soviet Russia as dark and drippy and has deep political undertones of which I have not fully comprehended. One thing is for sure though, this record matches the cover art. BAD ASS.
Highlights Include, “All We Want, Baby, Is Everything“, “Legal Tender”, and the records best track “Thy Will Be Done”.
Reviewed Reviews:
Helpful Links:
Upcoming Tour Dates:
04/08/09 London, UK
04/08/09 Canterbury, UK
04/08/09 Rotterdam, Netherlands
04/11/09 Paris, France
04/12/09 Brussels, Belgium
Clip of The Handsome Furs playing Thy Will Be Done:
In hip-hop there are few if any viable caucasian producer/artists, Eminem and RJD2 are two of the most popular. Today I can proudly add a 3rd face to the Mt. Rushmore of White Hip-Hop. Everybody this is Ronald Jenkees. Ronald Jenkees, this is everybody. In his Self Titled debut album, Ronald shows that musical composition comes more from the heart and ear, than from the pen and paper. In his production video’s it is clear this man loves what he does, and for good reason, he’s incredibly good at it. This white boy has got the funk.
Highlights Include, “Rocky Remix“, “Almost Undamaged”, “Super Fun”, and the greatest beat every written “Derty”.
Reviewed Reviews:
AdamP
Helpful Links:
YouTube Profile
Upcoming Tour Dates:
None.
Clip of Ronalds Producing/Improv/Badassness:
Honestly, what’s there to say? The Self-Titled album is a great collection of songs, but they failed to add the two best songs from the show: Bret You’ve Got It Goin On and Cheer Up Murray. In fact the only reason I am talking about this CD is to have an excuse to post the videos of those two particular songs. Still worth the purchase, clever song writing and groovy music.
Highlights Include, “Think About It“, “Inner City Pressure”, “Business Time”, and the Gangsta-Folk anthem “Mutha’Uckas”.
Reviewed Reviews:
Helpful Links:
Upcoming Tour Dates:
5/07/08: NYC, NY
5/09/08: Washington, DC
5/10/08: Ann Arbor, MI
5/11/08: Milwaukee, WI
5/13/08: Minneapolis, MN
Clips for “Cheer Up Murray“ and “Bret, You’ve Got It Goin On“:
