So just a bried round up of some new music that has me excited, starting with a cool band called Bass Drum of Death (best band name ever!)
Young Pros by Bass Drum of Death
Wade in by Joy Orbison (at last a new song by Joy, woooop!!!)
Someone Like you by Adele
If You Wanna (New Single Version!!) by The Vaccines
Garden by totally extinct Dinosaurs
Punching in a Dream by The Naked and Famous
I Knew it Was Over by Cat’s Eyes
Get Away by Yuck
Yonkers by Tyler the Creator
Joy Orbison is impressive for what he is doing differently. Dubstep is probably the only truly cutting edge form of pop music right now, It’s basically dance but with the emotion that dance has always lacked. The dark undertones and urban influence are also quite unique. Most of it up until now has been made to sound like something you would hear late at night in a car radio, but Joy Orbison’s sound is clean, clear and euphoric. If anyone is going to lead the genre into the mainstream it will be him.
http://www.myspace.com/joyorbison
The long list for the annual BBC Sound of 2009 poll has been reveled. For those that don’t know, every year the BBC commissions a list of artists who are tipped for great things in the next 12 months. The list has been going for a while and has had mixed success. Whilst the list correctly predicted Little Boots, Duffy, White Lies, Keane and Mika would be huge the vast majority of the acts named in the past have vanished without much a trace. Maybe that would be a good thing this year as the initial acts named are a sorry-looking bunch of Florence and the machine rip offs and dull electro groups. If this list is to believed then it looks like 2010 will be a musical washout.
fortunately there are one or two acts worth checking out. The Drums are a band I really love at the moment (see my review of Summertime) and they are by a mile the best thing on this list and also my tip for next year. My second place would go to Joy Orbison, the dubstep artist who will hopefully bring the genre into the mainstream. Delphic (a 21st century New Order), Stornoaway (for fans of Noah and the Whale and Mumford and Sons) and Golden Panda (lo-fi ambient soundscapes?) are the other acts worth listening to whilst Marina and the Diamonds are the act that will probably find the most success.
The list is a bit pointless and frankly a bit rubbish, but as a first prediction for next years bright young things it gives food for thought.
I like listening to Dubstep from time to time – mainly at night or when I’m in a reflective mood – but I’m certainly no expert on the genre. I have to be in the right mood to enjoy it and I think the vast majority of it is too repetitive and bland to make a big impression on me. However every now and then an artist will pop up that some how finds their way into my ears, more often than not because I’ve read comparisons to ‘burial’, an artist who I think is amazing.
The latest dubstep producer to catch my attention is Joy Orbison who instantly attracted me with that brilliant name. I also read a brilliant description of his stuff that made a comparison to shoegaze and The Beach boys. Hmm I thought – dubstep meets shoegaze meets The Beach Boys? Sounds like the future of music. Well obviously nothing could be as good as that sounds, but his track ‘Hyph Mngo’ still ranks as one of the freshest songs I’ve heard all year. As all good dubstep should be the track is claustrophobic, dark, simple and stirring. It makes the most of a basic voice sample and a classic beat.
I’m really excited about hearing more from this very young producer who should hopefully have more substantial stuff out soon. It is n’t a perfect track (it does go on for too long and gets slightly repetitive by the end) but It certainly made me eager to hear more.
Pop goes the Weasel 