Although it doesn’t feel much like summer anymore, I’ma do a throwback post and talk about some stellar bands who I saw perform a few months back. As y’all know, summer is the best time for learning about new music because of all the music festivals going on (Bonnaroo, Pitchfork, Sasquatch, Coachella, which is in the spring but I’m lumping it in here anyway, etc).
HOWEVER, I was unable to attend any of those because I live in the BFE section of America, so instead of talking about how sick it was to see OFWGKTA or James Blake I’m going to spread the love for some local heroes and unsigned acts who I had the pleasure of seeing this year. I know that you all have friends who are in their own shitty bands, or perhaps you are the friend in said shitty band, and you do your part and go to their shows to support them and buy their $5 dollar cd with the terrible production where the drums are louder than the vocals, but you would never excitedly share that music with anyone else because it was good.
But I promise you, this is not a case of me making you listen to my boyfriend’s awful Joan of Arc inspired art-rock three piece, the following artists actually are good, and their albums are recorded quite well for being done independently.
First off is the band Dial-Up, who are from Minneapolis and offer up sometimes dance flavored and sometimes strung-out sounding noise pop (lead singer Andrew Jansen is also frontman of the anti-folk A Paper Cup Band, also worth checking out). Here’s a link to their bandcamp, or you can play the mp3 at the top of the page.
Sorry guys I am still a tumblr n00b and am not sure how to have videos and mp3s all in the same post, so this is going to be a little less interactive than I was hoping.
ANYWAY, next are some friends of mine who are in the band Victor Shores, which hails from Fargo, North Dakota. They sound like Fugazi meets At the Drive-in meets hardcore meets I don’t know what. Here’s a link for a youtube vid of them playing in Seattle.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpFdj0PV8U8
bandcamp:
http://www.victorshores.bandcamp.com
Next is the usually one-man band Johnny Unicorn. Here a a couple pics I took during a performance this past August:
He is from Michigan and also plays the saxophone. **edit (J. Unicorn is now based in Seattle)
bandcamp: http://johnnyunicorn.bandcamp.com/
This is getting a little long so I’m going to rap up and leave you with these last two bands who are from Portland and Seattle.
Southerly is from Portland via Madison, Wisconsin, and is mainly the project of Krist Krueger, a very talented guitar player who creates lush, orchestral folk that at times is reminiscent of Elliott Smith, only not so depressing.They are old school and don’t have a bandcamp, so here’s their myspace link: http://www.myspace.com/southerly/music
Lastly is family band Youth Rescue Mission, who play real nice harmony-driven folk songs. I actually didn’t see these guys play this summer, but a few friends did when they were in Seattle. I’ve had their self-titled debut in heavy rotation the past few months.
bandcamp link: http://www.youthrescuemission.com
Here they are, they look nice.
Any artists you love but no one else in the world has heard of? And I’m not talking about that obscure Lightening Bolt EP you show off to look cool, I’m talking about bands from your hometown or who you saw at a local music venue and you thought were amazing but who haven’t yet had their big break. Maybe show them some love on your radio show? I wanna hear about them!
-Anna
