Mark wrote in to tell us about quarterlifeCRISiS, a relatively newly-formed group from Boston.
All four members are refugees from alt-rock group Stronghold in Siam which folded last year. These days, the band is doing a fine line in feelgood pop/rock tunes that are stuffed to bursting with great hooks.
This is going to be one of those ‘holy shit’ posts: I got an email from Colby, the bassist with Black Mercies to introduce the band and let me know that they’re planning a short tour of the UK in April.
The holy shit part is that this band is awesome. They rock in all the right ways, if you know what I mean. BB (the lead singer) alternates between cool breathy vocals and impassioned yelps. Musically, I’m reluctant to compare Black Mercies to anyone else. Their brand of rock has a classic tinge to it, but remains distinctive and original.
With a knack for intriguing song names – Ballad Of A Kept Man, The Arsonist, Hellacopters – you’ll want to listen just to find out what the hell the songs are about! And Death 2 Celebrity is probably the best introduction to the band: frenzied drumming and brilliant, melodic guitar work (who’s that, BB again?)
The UK tour is shaping up as follows, but keep an eye on their MySpace blog for any changes or additions to the schedule.
If you want to hear more of the Black Mercies, bounce over to their official website – it contains three songs not on their MySpace player.
Actually – unless the correct me – you can stream their entire Murder It Sweetly album, and if you go to the Media section, there are links to purchase the album at CD Baby or iTunes, depending on your preference.
Don’t forget to friend the band on MySpace and if you like them, spread the word! That’s part of the reason for doing posts like these – so go out and blog about the band, spray their name on walls and stuff like that!
You guys are bombarding me with new music lately, and I’m feeling obliged to give a shout out to the best of the bands I’m hearing lately.
Here’s the latest: glasslights or glass.lights as they sometimes spell it. They’re a London-based four-piece making some seriously ambitious tunes.
Check out their song, The King And The Queen, which starts out understated and innocently enough, until the massive chorus bursts forth from your speakers and everything goes mental. I can hear the influence of a stack of classic bands in their sound: a touch of U2 (in the guitar sound on July and Someone Like Me), piano-influenced groups, possibly in the Coldplay/Keane vein.
The thing is, while Coldplay and Keane often leave me cold, Glasslights actually have a pop rock sensibility that’s nowhere near the often-dull sounds of those bands.
Two of the newer songs on the MySpace page, Big Dreams and Brave New Day are an interesting contrast. Big Dreams sees Andy singing in an almost-falsetto and some lush strings. Brave New Day has a strong guitar sound and pounding drums alternating with a whispered verse. Actually, the more I listen to it, Brave New Day is my favourite track so far.
Anyway, I had a brief chat to singer/guitarist Andy to find out more about the band. Firstly, how and when they formed:
The band was formed last summer, June to be precise, when Brian (guitarist) answered my ad in a guildford newspaper. We started rehearsing bits and bobs together, then Brian quickly roped in two of his pals, Harvey (bass) and Dan Kav (drums) to complete the line up. We’ve been writing and rehearsing non stop ever since, and played our first gig at Guildford Boilerroom at the beginning of December last year, which was really fun. We’ve been gigging loads since, and as you will see from the myspace, we’ve got a nice string of gigs planned for the coming months across the country – so it’s all quite exciting.
So, they’ve been writing their own songs? What sort of music influences their songwriting? Andy says:
I know everyone says this, but they truly are very varied with this band. Personally, I’d say I’ve been most affected by classic songwriters – Lennon, Brian Wilson, The Carpenters – all that properly crafted stuff that no-one seems to own up to liking these days! By contrast, drummer Dan is a massive Metallica fan, so there’s a decent mixture of styles going on there.
What’re you waiting for? Bounce over to MySpace and have a listen to Glasslights, and tell me what you think…
The People’s Music Awards is a unique way for unsigned bands and artists to showcase their music and get some exposure to the industry and to the public.
It’s got all the features we love in a music competition: unsigned artists, public voting and lots of good tunes to discover. Here’s a bit of the blurb to fill you in:
The TPMA’s are the worlds first Global Unsigned Music Awards and online Chart, that recognise serious talent across 9 music categories. The concept is simple, IT’S ALL ABOUT THE PEOPLE, from the voting to the acts – If you like what you hear, vote for it and give recognition to the artists who deserve it. TPMA is supported by numerous music industry figureheads who continually feedback on the artists and scout for future talent, with round two of the competition voted on by 17 Guest Judges, who this year include the legendary Annie Nightingale (Radio One), Eddy Temple-Morris, and Tony Platt (Island Studios).
I got a breezy email from Sean Fournier the other day recommending that I check out his 6 track album, Oh My.
Normally, I approach this type of email with caution – you never know if the contents are going to be good or appalling. But Sean’s confidence and enthusiasm impressed me enough to download his free album. That last link’s a hint, by the way!
It always seems counter-intuitive to release a list of bands who are going to dominate the charts at the start of the year. Nevertheless, that’s what happens in January every year when the BBC release their “Sound of…” list.
This year is no exception, and the BBC’s Sound of 2009 is riddled with 10 singers and bands that you’ve probably never heard of before. Last year’s chart namechecked Adele, Duffy and The Ting Tings – this year, we’re being introduced to Little Boots, White Lies, Lady GaGa and La Roux among others. Read on for the full list…
The Guardian have gone out and asked a bunch of industry insiders about the acts they think are going to break through in 2009. Think of this as a pre-cursor to the BBCs soon-to-be-released Sound Of 2009 poll which does something similar.
But most of these acts are already well on their way to fame and fortune, with many already signed. Spread the word about them by all means, but what about less well-known groups?
As I mentioned in this post, with less high-street options now that Zavvi has disappeared, the amount of choice for consumers is restricted. You’ve got to go online to catch new music acts – MySpace is one such place, but suffers from having an awful lot of dross to wade through before you find a decent band. I prefer Virb.com and PureVolume.com, because the userbase is a little more selected, presumably with people who didn’t want to get lost in the crowd at MySpace!
I get the occasional email from indie promoters, but you’d be surprised at how bad some of the acts they send through are. I normally don’t review them rather than say bad things about their music, which they probably work very hard on. Maybe I should include them anyway, and let the readers have their say?
I started a short-lived project in 2008 – a MySpace tour concept where you surfed MySpace for good bands, then found another good band in their friendlist and then surfed on to another band and so on. It should have went on for a lot longer than it did, but I came up against the problem that the last act didn’t have any good bands among their friends. What a shame.
Is that idea worth reviving? Possibly. Or the alternative option which is to ask one of the bands I’ve reviewed to recommend another band they admire.
I feel like Unreality Music has to do something to support indie music in 2009. Any ideas?
Orange unsignedAct finalists the Scarlet Harlots have been tipped for greatness in the new year by The Wombats.
The members of The Wombats were impressed when they mentored the Scarlet Harlots for the Channel 4 talent show. Wombats singer, Murf told them:
I thought you were going to be good before you even picked up an instrument.
Now, you all know that I’ve been a big fan of The Wombats over the last year, so this endorsement by the band interested me. I decided to check out the Scarlet Harlots. They’ve got their own profile on the Orange unsignedAct homepage, and of course the ubiquitous MySpace presence, although there’s more music on the MySpace page, including the essential This Is How We Do It.
Simon Gavin is reprising his role as a judge on Channel 4’s talent competition, Orange Unsigned Act.
Simon is the head of A&M Records, the company who will ultimately sign the winning band in the competition and release their record.
We caught up with Simon to chat about his role on the show, how it compares to ‘other’ TV talent shows, and what the bands can expect if they win the competition.
Have you heard about the Orange Unsigned Act competition? It’s a TV show that’s coming soon to Channel 4’s new 4music channel.
I’ll save the comparisons to X Factor for the reality TV blog. The reason I’m writing this is to tell you about the stack of unsigned talent you can find on the Unsigned Act website.
I’m currently having my eardrums rearranged by a punk band from London called The Display Team – click on the link, you get a band biography and a handful of brilliant songs, links to their proper website and everyfink. This band are particularly wonderful just for having worked the words “tits up” into their lyrics. I love the fact that they’re working trumpets and trombones into their act!
