words: Jamie Milton
O. Children remain, to me, the band today most capable of releasing a debut album that’s not just spectacular and bold but also very mature. They’ve been working for some time on it. I heard a demo version of ‘Ruins’ which I think might have been the working title of the album. It was scrappy, sounded unfinished, but it was as dark as anything I’d ever heard.
For The Golden Filter to seep out the doom and gloom from Tobias and co.’s fascinating sound would be to defeat the point. Instead, they manage to adapt it into “world spirit” drums and soft, tender backing vocals. All the haunting, twisted one-liners remain (“wake up honey, there’s a knocking at the door”), as bolts of jagged guitar are interplayed with perfect timing. Luscious but still very much like the kind of person you’d avoid on the street, just in case they’ve got a nasty secret…
mp3//
P R I M E
NEW BANDS ‘09
THE TOP THREE VOTE – primaries
words: Jamie Milton
To conclude our seemingly never-ending quest to track down the best of the new, we saw it a fitting time to narrow the list of 30 odd names all the way down to three. Plenty of names are flying about in large quantity by now. Lady GaGa already, is top of the UK iTunes chart – so she’s made it. But whilst the features we’ve provided you so far have been done on a basis of who would emerge the most successfull now in opinionated-fashion, MFM will be giving you a guide of whom is capable of creating the most exciting music. This isn’t dependant on who’s got the best stuff around currently, but that’ll no doubt help. Instead it’s decided on a basis of who has the most flair and most ambition, as well as the already-indicated songwriting ability to help them on their way. Eventually you’ll vote to decide on the final three but we’ll do the starting bits for you.
So here’s how it’s done.
We pile in all the acts from each of our three sections:
i) the dead certs
ii) the likely lads
iii) the bidding hopefuls
and we then pit them against eachother, in completely random order. ‘the dead certs’ only featured nine names so the first four rounds will exclude the acts in that group. Following? If not, hopefully when you see it in action it might make a little more sense.
For old time’s sake, we’re including La Roux in ‘the likely lads’ to even things out and just because she deserves a place which we should’ve given her already.
let the games begin:
RND.1 (narrowing down 34 to 30)
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TUBELORD vs. O. CHILDREN (right)
This is a tough draw. Tubelord have already given us some great songs and definitely have a scene behind them but O. Children just have that little more about them. Winner: O. Children.
LEAN HORSE MARATHON vs. POST WAR YEARS
Another nasty pair of great names. LHM’s debut self-released LP was dreamy and blissful but Post War Years’ ‘Black Morning’ EP is something else. Winner: Post War Years
DINOSAUR PILE UP vs. HOCKEY
Difficult again – Dinosaur Pile Up could have a few show-stopping hits inside of them and Hockey have certainly won the hearts of minds of every hipster about but tune-wise; winner: DPU
LET’S WRESTLE vs. THE TOUGH ALLIANCE
Early indications show Let’s Wrestle to be packed with potential indie-hits but there’s nothing truly original in there as of yet. TTA have released tons of great stuff so far and look likely to keep it up. Winner: The Tough Alliance.
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RND 2. (enter the dead certs – three vs. three)
LITTLE BOOTS vs. GRAMMATICS vs. THE TEMPER TRAP
Word is spreading fast on Little Boots’ electro-fest of smart gadget-led pop. As is the buzz on Grammatics; their even more intellectual take on indie has left many speechless and their self-titled debut will be up against Danananykroyd for debut of the year. The Temper Trap could end up being THE new band of the year and we might be looking back on them regularly by the end of the year. But indication suggests, winner: Little Boots.
WE HAVE BAND vs. THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART vs. BROKEN RECORDS
This is painful, horrible, why did I make myself do this? We Have Band make excellent indie-pop and if everything were right in the world, would be huge already. POBPAH’s (haha) debut album is consistent and breathes maturity at such an early stage. Broken Records could be the next Arcade Fire or even Belle & Sebastian. So; Winner: Broken Records.
LA ROUX vs. FLASHGUNS vs. MAPS + ATLASES
La Roux’s ‘Quicksand’ finally hit today; it really is pop at its very best. Everything Flashguns have offered so far has been great, quirky fun and Maps + Atlases’ debut EP not at one moment failed to maintain your attention with its Southern-state-guitar-fused-enthusiasm. Winner: Maps + Atlases
EMPIRE OF THE SUN vs. THAT GHOST vs. CATHERINE A.D
‘Walking On A Dream’ keeps getting better and better, MGMT-esque stuff of dreams, worthy of the hype that ‘Electric Feel’ etc. got last year. That Ghost’s ‘Open Windows’ is just as good but the rest of ‘Young Fridays’ sounds too purposefully messy. Catherine A.D makes the most sophisticated pop around. But to pick a winner; Empire of the Sun.
THE TOUGH ALLIANCE vs. OX.EAGLE.LION.MAN vs. VV BROWN
As said above, the Tough Alliance make powerful dance-pop in similar vein to neighbours Cut Copy. Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man could be capable of big, big things but you get the feeling they haven’t delivered it yet. VV Brown might have hit the peak of her career already with ‘Crying Blood’ but you get the feeling the girl’s ambitious. Winner: The Tough Alliance.
DANANANAYKROYD vs. ESSER vs. FANFARLO
The toughest matching so far. Dana-etc. apparently, have the debut of the year in ‘Hey Everyone!’ and funnily enough that’s believeable. Esser is destined for stardom and everybody knows it and Farfarlo, well everything they’ve made so far has been nothing less than beautiful. A winner? Danananaykroyd.
DINOSAUR PILE UP vs. WHITE LIES vs. SKY LARKIN
Dinosaur Pile Up will certainly shake things up musically somehow this year, I can see Sky Larkin attempting the same but going slightly more under the rader. But the big name in this draw has to be White Lies, a band who everybody seems to want to get their grubby mitts on. Winner: White Lies.
FRYARS vs. PLUGS vs. O. CHILDREN
frYars has an awful lot going on in that head of his, certainly a few hits at least. Plugs as well, know a thing or two about writing infectious pop tunes but O. Children combine catchiness with the ability to make you feel truly shaken after a listen. Their songs are depressing, tributing Joy Division and they’re a big step forwards from disbanded Bono Must Die. Winner: O. Children
FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE vs. CALORIES vs. BOY CRISIS
It seems like everybody is pinpointing Florence and the Machine to be the act to cause a stir in 2009. A brit award to her name already; in a large batch of female solo artists destined for bright futures, hers seems the brightest. She’s up against pop-punk delight Calories and hyped-up Boy Crisis. Both Florence’s opponents have plenty to give but probably aren’t capable of a lengthy successful career like she perhaps is. Winner: Florence and the Machine
POST WAR YEARS vs. GENTLE FRIENDLY vs. TITUS ANDRONICUS vs. PASSION PIT
An unfortunate draw for these guys, to be pitted in a four-way frenzy. Unfortunate too that they’re four of the strongest acts in our list. So without going into detail, all four are capable of a long illustrious career of consistent brilliance and we really mean that but if one act stands out as possible stars, it has to be Passion Pit. Winner: Passion Pit.
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So that’s it for now, people. There’s ten acts left in it and we’ll narrow it down to five. Then comes your chance to get involved in the final vote of deciding a top three. Hope you enjoyed the primaries, keep checking back to see if your favourite new band made it into the top five.
mp3: Little Boots – Mathematics
mp3: Empire of the Sun -Walking On A Dream
[Pre-order 'Walking On A Dream']
NEW BANDS ‘09
PT.1 – THE BIDDING HOPEFULS
words: Jamie Milton
Welcome stranger, to the first part in three of MFM’s guide to the forthcoming year. Here, we note down all the bands worthy of being crowed next year’s MGMT, Klaxons or whoever was huge in 2006 and we ultimately forgot about…
‘Bidding Hopefuls’ is defined by us writers as an act that deserves to earn the dollar, is doing everything right to earn the dollar but might just watch that dollar pass ‘em by. Who knows why. Record companies not having wicked amounts of cash injected into them, is probably the primary reason. You’ll have to wait a couple of weeks to get a definitive guide of that lot. But here are a few lesser-known names that deserve to be on the edge of everyone’s lips by the end of 2009.
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Boy CrisisOpinions-splitters between major and minor press, the audacity of Boy Crisis is an off-putter if anything. Drugs and sex is how it all goes in their part, and even though they may be in the less respectable side of the increasingly talked-about Brooklyn scene, they’ll shamelessly suck the boredom out of us, no problem. They may be the ultimate A&R band to deal with the MGMT hype and have it for themselves, but you get the feeling they’ll pull it off.
Catherine A.D
Even though the majority of female solo artists that “make it” tend to have something rather unique going for them when it comes to personality, Catherine A.D might just do it the hard way. In the style of a sombre, less-twisted PJ Harvey, her stripped down acoustic dreams have eased their way into many a head over the course of the last few months and the same looks set to occur next year.
Calories
Fresh but fatal, Calories have been fortunately chucked into drool-worthy bills next to the likes of Tubelord and Johnny Foreigner in order to help them gain some much-deserved attention. Pop punk with a serious edge, they merge an eclectic range of influences to form a driven yet delicate sound, capable of expanding into pretty much anything.
Q+A: CALORIES
1- Would you agree that there seems to be a rush towards bands likeyours as the best new bands? The likes of Tubelord, Tellison and yourself seem to be seeked an awful lot at the moment…
We’ve only been going about 6 months so we haven’t seen all that much but there’s definitely more people taking interest in smaller and more obscure bands. Maybe it’s the ipod thing people can afford be more fickle now. Or perhaps it’s all the festivals like atp and field day etc wetting peoples appetites and encouraging them to look beyond mtv. I don’t know really.
2- What’ll be your first step in 2009 when it comes to recording?
We’ve already recorded our first album and we’re working on the second now. we like to stay ahead of the game.
3- How ambitiously will you be thinking in terms of the next 12 months?
We’re on tour with Tubelord and Colour as january the 6th. We’re releasing our first album through Smalltown America early next year and we looking to write record and release our second by the end of the year. Two albums in one year is our ultimate goal (fingers crossed)
4- Your myspace influences cite some of my favourite bands; Blonde Redhead, Les Savy Fav, Animal Collective, The Shins, but they’re all very different. Can we expect a wide range of sounds coming through in any new material or perhaps a debut album?
We don’t have a set way of doing things really, we just keep it simple and work with what we have guitar/bass/drums we don’t really have pre concieved ideas of how a song is going to sound but then again i spose anything’s possible.
5- What other acts should we be looking out for next year?
I only know about Birmingham bands other than Copy haho who are from Scotland they’re great, really good live and lovely guys too. Beestung Lips from Birmingham are recording their first album which should be good, they’re kind of like an even more pumped up Jesus Lizard.
I think Gentle Friendly will be doing alot more next year they’re a pretty unique band David’s kind of regarded as a genius by me and most of my friends. Johnny foreigner are going to release another album i think. And sunset cinema club have recorded a full length but i think it’s only available in Japan at the moment.
Gentle Friendly
Finally, a modern-day-American-punk inspired treat to hail from down here in the South East England area. Most impressions of the Brooklyn giants tend to falter on first listen but the edgy No Age-esque chunks of punk ferocity are ideal to lose your head to when witnessed on the live stage. Prepare to be blown away.
Lean Horse Marathon
Psychadelic swarms of unearthly fuzz vibrations, LHR are small-talk these days but word is casually beginning to spread through their self-released ‘LP1′, available for free download on their myspace. In the midst of the uplifting atmopheric flavour lies some of the most sincere melodies you’ll ever come across. Deerhunter-circa ‘Cryptograms’ delight.
Let’s Wrestle
Part of an indie scene that’s so scarce with no names, even though Let’s Wrestle have their fair share of experience to their name thus far, they might be deemed a breath of fresh air when all indie fans find themselves looking elsewhere when the lext Little Man Tate album kills us inside. But they’re more to these guys than just the lazy tag of “indie”. Lurking inside is a whole lot of attitude through their lyrics and live shows. If anyone deserves a bit of luck…
Q+A: Lets’ Wrestle
-What’ll be your first step in 2009?
I don’t know most of the time it feels like we are in wheelchairs and cant walk at all
- What’s the key to obtaining hype these days do you think, and does it rely an awful lot on online buzz?
hype and buzz rarely ever struck me as having anything to do with us we are interested in a career in music other than paying attention to that we do what we like and and try and be polite to our fans we don’t keep any buzz.
- Can we expect an album within the next 12 months?
yeah deffo pads it will be out hopefully early in the new year
- How ambitiously are you thinking in terms of aims for 2009?
i dont know we may find girls to marry and grow beards and then bring our wives and beards on tour with us but not into the studio with us but just carry on with what we are doing
- Are there any other names we should be keeping an eye on at the moment?
Can’t you read that in the NME??
O Children
(top picture)
Prominent drums usher in a plethora of cool; these four-piece, old-skool photography lovers have everything it takes to become the next musical hipsters but my word there is so much going on sound-wise. Tobias’ deep and moody vocals bring about thoughts of all wrong and awful in the world, in similar response to a listen to the equally twisted These New Puritans. We have something truly unique and special with these ones. On a major label and ready to take the music scene by storm. They might just be the best new band in the UK right now.
PLAY: O Children – Ezekiel’s Son
Ox. Eagle. Lion. Man
Ghostly swarms of darkness enter without knocking, a build up of atmosphere adjusts itself occasionally to have as big an impact on you as possible. But once it all shatters to give way to unconventional, waltzly full band contribution, it’s just as affecting. Old-fashioned, maddening vocals from Frederick Blood-Royale torment you and force you to feel uncomfortable. This takes some getting used to but don’t put it past yourself to fall for it.
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
Who’d have thought that the fuzzed grunge of My Bloody Valentine might exist as something more timeless than ever before come next year? The nostalgia-led, shamelessly dated in production music of these guys would easily go un-noticed had they not had some awesome, moving songs under their belts. Their self-titled debut is on our stereo this very second and mark my words it’ll have an impact on you.
PLAY: The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – This Love Is Fucking Right
Plugs
DIOY,Y? side-project they may be but the first time I came across Plugs I had no idea of that and frankly they sounded like ten times the act that the aforementioned could ever be. Comparions to Hot Chip might be getting old by now but with a couple of single releases to their name already, an electro-pop album to challenge and out-do their companions must surely be on the cards.
The Temper Trap
Note these ones down as a potential hero to emerge from next year’s SXSW Texas come March. Delay-heavy muted guitar lines surround accompanying atmosphere with alleviating vocals. There’s nothing much new about this light-hearted dance-pop, clearly influenced by fellow Australians Cut Copy, but expect their name to be mentioned over and over again, merely on the basis of ‘Sweet Disposition’. Their opinion-splitting nature has been put to use by Jim Abbis in regard to a debut album due early next year. His work with the likes of Kasabian, Arctic Monkeys and Adele proves that he’s had is fair share already of being a big part of success.
Titus Andronicus
Multi-instrumentalist Americans blend enthusiasm with pulsating hooks to melt your head with jovial punk spirit. Their self-titled track will kickstart any gig. Think Broken Social Scene with less melancholy and more shamelessness, Neutral Milk Hotel with a little less historical context. The fact that they’re supporting Los Campesinos! next February says quite a lot in itself and they look set to pick up the same sort of cult support that gave their companions career a healthy start.
The Tough Alliance
Most likely to be found under an “if you like Cut Copy then…” description, the tacky Swedish pop, courtesy of Eric Berglund and Henning Fürst, seems consistently excellent on the basis of previously released EPs and albums but word’s getting round that 2009 will be their year if any will. According to reports they condone violence by swinging baseball bats onstage but as far as it goes so far, all they’re condoning is some thrilling dance-offs.
PLAY: The Tough Alliance – Neo Violence
MFM @ HYPEM
