Triple j Unearthed is a great source to find new & interesting Australian music. That is how I discovered Dollarosa. Their sound could maybe be described as some kind of mix alternative rock and emo with some heavier elements too. Based on their EP "The Neverending Unfamiliar" this band has the potential to hit it big, especially if they keep on making hyper-catchy and radio-friendly songs such as "Curses" which has been on repeat for me ever since I heard it.
Hello readers! :) I have been meaning to update this blog so many times during these 1.5 years but I haven't added a single entry to this blog. The reason for that is that I've been busy with my studies (read: procrastinated) so that I just haven't found the time to sit down and write a few lines. But to break the silence I've decided to make a brief overview of the the songs/artists/albums/EPs that have caught my attention this year.
The album that I've completely fallen for is 'Wolf's Law' by the Welsh band The Joy Formidable. It's maybe slightly less noisy than their debut album but the floaty yet powerful guitars, Ritzy Bryan's beautiful vocals and versatile songs do the trick for me. My favorite off the album has grown to be 'The Silent Treatment' which shows that this band can make not only noisy rock songs but also emotional acoustic masterpieces. My other favorites off the album are 'Maw Maw Song' with its hard-hitting riff and the dynamic duo of 'Forest Serenade' and 'The Leopard And The Lung' which are the kind of floaty rockers in which this band is at their very best. Finding it hard to believe many albums would be able to top this one this year for me, if any.
Other new albums I've liked this year include '{Awayland}' by Villagers, 'Waiting for Something to Happen' by Veronica Falls, 'Hummingbird' by Local Natives and 'Country Sleep' by Night Beds. My EP of 2013 so far is probably 'Atlas: Darkness' by Sleeping at Last with its beautiful orchestral & folky atmosphere. If you have any suggestions of bands/songs I should check out, feel free to leave a comment or a message.
Those of you who use Spotify can subscribe to my playlist '2013' which I regularly update with songs of 2013 I like: 2013
And after the opening act it's time for the headliner. The first time I heard BRS must have been through a last.fm radio station. What caught my attention was their unique style: the drums sounded amazing and the riffs like no any other band. BRS is a band from Brighton formed in 2005 and it consists of two friends Laura-Mary Carter (guitar & vocals) and Steven Ansell (drums & vocals). They've released two albums so far: "Box of Secrets" (2008) and "Fire Like This". My favourite song by them must be "Heartsink" which became their third single from "Fire Like This". The video of the song was released a month ago and it involves BRS fans destroying some things they want to destroy. They're touring in the States & Canada in October and after and before that many shows in Europe. But no shows in Finland coming up. I guess I gotta keep on askin' them to come here ;) If you have the chance go and see them because they're brilliant live!
As I've warned you my taste in music is quite eclectic so it's time to get a bit more screamy here ;) This band I stumbled across as it was opening for Blood Red Shoes in Übel und Gefährlich in Hamburg this year. My personal schedule was too tight so that I only managed to see only a couple songs by them live. But they managed to impress with their explosive energy and the crowd was wild (so wild that I thought PABH is some local band from Hamburg). Anyway they play some kind of post-hardcore and their debut album was released in June.
I discovered this French electro pop/rock band by accident while surfing randomly at soundcloud.com. The song "Children" has some nice beats and a dancey chorus that gets stuck in your head. They have released only a two song EP but I guess the debut album is waiting to be released ;) The other song "The Return" isn't bad either. Dead Sea Lions - The Return
Mentioning the word chillwave probably immediately makes me hipster in the eyes of people who think they know everything about music and all its genres but don't want to consider themselves as hipsters (a bit too complicated formulation but i hope you get my point). But I think chillwave whether it's a genre or not descripes Beat Connection's music quite nicely. Their song "In The Water" is a great electronic and chilling song that has got quite much attention among music enthusiasts and their free EP (http://beatconnection.bandcamp.com/) is quite solid as a whole in my opinion. So whether or not you like/use the term chillwave check out these chilling sounds before this band gets signed by a major label.
Well I guess it's time to start my propaganda for good Finnish music ;) I start with Viola a Finnish electro/synth pop band that is, in my opinion, too unknown in Finland as well as across the world. Their career as a band shows in my opinion a good progress throughout their career and their original approach on music is shown by their varied discography and I admire their ability to do things their own way. They stopped stopped recording physical albums in 2009 because it wasn't financially profitable for them anymore so they decided to make a move which, in my opinion, should be done by many indie bands. Since April 1st 2009 they have released one free song per month. At the same time they made ALL their previously released albums for free downloading at http://www.violamusicclub.com/. It's hard for me as a fan of their music to pick a favourite (maybe Halo Goodbye, Nobodylovers, Lovelights, We Owe Love...) or a two so all I'm saying: get them all ;) I'm not gonna tell their history here (you can read more on them at http://www.ifsociety.com/viola/ )
