Unsigned Bands Archives

Watch ‘OrtzRoka Planets’

Heralded by the dance press and influential media (Fluokids, Channel 4 Music, Popjustice), OrtzRoka have received huge support from a whole bunch of musician and DJ folk - Busy P, New Young Pony Club, Laurent Garnier, Erol Alkan, Justin Robertson, Ewan Pearson, Prins Thomas, Rob Da Bank, People Are Germs and Ivan Smagghe.

OrtzRoka recently supported Midnight Juggernauts and Pin Me Down (Bloc Party’s Russell Lissack’s new band), performed DJ sets at Vice, Apocalypso and Magazine Club, and have been tipped by DJ Magazine as artists to most likely have ‘Major Impact in 2008′ alongside Booka Shade, Moby and Deadmau5. Read More »

Recommended: Looker

looker

Looker are a mostly female pop-punk group from New York City. They tell us that they’re heading for the UK in April of this year.

I sort of hesitate to use the word ’spunky’, but their poppy vocals and raw guitar parts inspire that kind of description. There’s something familiar about the Looker sound, like I’ve heard the style before, but can’t point out a specific band they sound like.

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Recommended: Context

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Rob got in touch to recommend his flatmate Context, a rapper from Norwich.

Rob says “Context calls his type of music ‘Dub Hop’. It’s hip hop in essence because he is an MC, but then his production incorporates dubstep, drum and bass, ‘dance’ etc… It’s for sale in iTunes under ‘Hip Hop’ though for ease of categorisation”

He says that Context is fresh new music - “I am not really a fan of hip hop music myslef, but this stuff is really different. Its ticks so many musical boxes - getting ready to go out, feeling angry, relaxing - the lot!”

I took a listen to his MySpace and was actually blown away by what I heard. Imagine Mike Skinner, but much, much darker. The beats are intense, and there’s a brooding electronic bass sound running through everything that carries a lot of menace.

Check out Context’s MySpace for some sample tunes, and there’s also a link to download his Dialetics EP is you want to take some tracks away on your iPod.

Remember, if you know an act who’s worth shouting about, let us know by recommending them.

Recommended: Maranchez

maranchez

One of our readers, Angie wrote in to recommend Argyll-based rockers Maranchez. She says she likes the fact that they write their own music and they sound great live.

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Recommended: Dark Room Notes

Dark Room Notes

Martin emailed me yesterday to let me know about Irish indie band, Dark Room Notes.

The Dublin based quartet are our first recommendation for 2008, and you should go and check out their MySpace (just as soon as you’ve read this page!). They’re really quite excellent.

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Recommended: Another Cynthia

We haven’t done a recommended by you post in a little while, so here’s a recommendation from Ryan of Ryan’s Smashing Life.

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Profile: Newbreed

newbreed

These spiky-wigged pouters are a band called Newbreed. It’s alright that they pose with attitude here, because they have the tunes to back it up.

Newbreed are a rock/metal act from Telford in the UK. The band consists of Scott (vocals), Darell (guitar), Steve (bass) and Ben (drums).

I caught a couple of their songs over on MySpace. The style is heavy, but melodic. They collectively have a lot of power, but rather than drowning it out with distortion and noise, they let those meaty riffs come through loud and clear.

There’s something slightly old school about their sound too. Scott’s a formidable vocalist and he knows just when to drop a throat ripping scream in.

Check out Newbreed in action in their video for People Vs Me. Oh, and don’t forget to add them on MySpace too.

Recommended: Boathouse

Today’s recommendation is a band called Boathouse, as recommended by Northern Irish Photographer, Phil O’Kane. Phil’s recommendation is below:

Boathouse

Since 2006 Boathouse have been touring local venues throughout Northern Ireland, each night attracting larger audiences. With a myriad of instruments beyond guitar, bass and drums they fill the air with the sounds of a glockenspiel, accordion, keyboards, trumpet and flute and the emotive vocal talents of Gerry McCrudden and Amy McGarrigle.

Before the summer they recorded a session for BBC Radio Ulster’s Across the Line, three of those tracks are available to listen to on their MySpace, and they should have an EP available in the coming months.

The second track on the recording, ‘What I Remember‘, begins with the innocent sound of a few notes being tapped on the glockenspiel while the rest of the instruments slowly rise to the vocal level bringing out the powerful lyrics so clearly.

They have a two gigs planned in Belfast before the end of the year: Lavery’s Bunker on 26th Nov and Common Grounds Café on 21st Dec, honestly they shouldn’t be missed.

Thanks to Phil for the recommendation. By the way, if you haven’t subscribed to Phil’s blog yet, I highly recommend it. He’s a great photographer.

If you know of a great band that we haven’t heard of, why not recommend them and we’ll write about them here on Unreality Music.

Recommended: Susy Thomas

susy-thomas

Meet Susy Thomas. She’s an indie-label artist from London with a cute smile and a maker of cracking acoustic pop tunes.

Susy was suggested for our Recommended By You spot by Vince Freeman (who we wrote about previously).

Vince describes Susy as a fantastic performer, “Her voice has a real soulful twist with a real international flavour.  Its lovely to see female performers with a real command over the instruments they play.”

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Recommended: A Verse Unsung

a-verse-unsung

Ryan Baustert from Throw The Fight has recommended today’s band, A Verse Unsung. They’re a power-punk four piece from Minneapolis, Minnesota.

With most of the members fresh out of high school, you’ll be surprised at how hard these guys rock. Their MySpace profile boasts almost 10,000 fans, and their older songs have been listened to roughly 20,000 times each.

Listen to a few tracks on their pages and you’ll discover a band who can deliver crushing riffs and head-pounding beats. Cali, their most popular track on MySpace is the perfect example. Vocalist Jake Scherer handles the screaming melodically and effortlessly - get to know the words and you too can shout yourself hoarse with this band!

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