2011 has arrived and I’ve been spending the first few days of the year catching up with some new music. While going through my inbox and reading up on new artists, the band that stands out the most to me the most is Lord Huron, the moniker of a Michigan-via-L.A artist otherwise known as Ben Schneider. He has a couple of excellent EPs out and will presumably be releasing an album sometime in 2011. After hearing a couple songs, I was immediately compelled to download everything the artist has done and I have a feeling I’ll be listening to them for a long time. I think it’s safe to say, if you’ve enjoyed music by Panda Bear, Vampire Weekend, Fleet Foxes, or Local Natives you’ll dig this as well.
In our modern world, indie bands must do ‘whatever it takes’ to compete with mainstream bands. Indie bands are in a battle with alt rockers to become ‘the best selling guitar rock bros in the world.’ Not sure if it will happen in our lifetime, but mindie bands like Vampire Weekend and Arcade Fire are doing their best to sell mad units at discounted prices.
Vampire Weekend has transformed. With their 2008 self-titled debut, Rostam Batmanglij, Ezra Koenig, Chris Tomson & Chris Baio captured the ideals of young pop fans everywhere with their witty, intellectual constructions of strong pop songs executed with a standard rock set up. Their wistful dreaming from the dorms of an ivy league university sparked interest worldwide, and has subsequently conquered the hearts of bloggers and music-lovers alike. Clearing the difficult sophomore album hurdle with Contra (released last week), they have expanded their sound with their horizons.
In the music video to Banjo or Freakout’s “Upside Down” an Indian, a football player, a guy in a chicken suit, an angel, a solider, a Playmate bunny, a man covered in blue paint, and the Grim Reaper are all seen running and jumping into the ocean in slow motion. It’s a striking sequence and the band’s music has a surreal, transcendental quality that fits those images perfectly. Banjo or Freakout is the moniker to Alessio Natalizia, a London-based bedroom-pop artist who’s made a name for himself on the internet by covering artists from Burial to LCD Soundsystem to Vampire Weekend.
I can’t say I’m a huge fan of Vampire Weekend, but anything involving Chromeo sounds good to me…and in this case it sounds great. The loveable duo recently remixed VW’s oh-so-Police-esque tune "The Kids Don’t Stand A Chance" giving it a fresh coat of sexy 80’s synth funk.
Photos from a recent FOE gig - a friend of our friends Hold Your Horse Is - she’s gonna be big!!! Read the gig review after the jump.
Shots of North Carolina’s folk-rocking Avett Brothers’ stop in Glasgow - 22.08.11
Read the review of the gig here.
Take a look at the acts and art on offer at this year’s Latitude Festival in Suffolk. Included are the likes of Fight Like Apes, Lykke Li, Sea of Bees and Seasick Steve. Photos from our own...
Good time with Bad Guys. Photos from the May 29th gig at the Old Blue Last. Read the review by the Bad Guy himself, Stuart London after the jump.
Artrocker.com exclusive: for fans of White Lies and Crocodiles we’ve got some fresh pictures from their UK show at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire earlier this month, courtesy of Alessandro...
Follow us on
twitter here