Don't You (Forget About Me)

The following list covers all of the artists/bands featured on EAR FARM through the end of July 2006. This excludes the weekly features (such 8+, Weekend Live Music) and is more about bands that have gotten a band-specific write-up on EF. I'm still trying to decide how to make this list more reader-friendly as I know it has gotten rather extensive and will only continue to grow. As a start, I've added blurbs next to each artist. These quotes are from EAR FARM write-ups about the band and should help give you a mini-notion of what each artist is all about and should also clue you in as to why they've been featured on this site. Click the (+) to visit a previous EF posting about any of these bands and click the band name to go to their site. I realize this is a lengthy post. Take your time, there's a quality band here for each and every one of you to fall in love with.

New York based bands:
Apse (+) - ominous post-rock with a sense of wonder...(at times) The Beta Band, Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, and My Bloody Valentine.
The Art of Shooting (+) - musical cousins of Pretty Girls Make Graves...influences like Sonic Youth and Siouxsie
Bastion (+) - a little Joy Division during the verses, My Bloody Valentine during the chorus
Bishop Allen (+) - "Click Click Click Click" belongs at the top of the camera/picture-song list with other classics like "Kodachrome" and "Pictures of You"
A Brief Smile (+) - fresh and current in a way that won't make you go "hmm, Gang of Four"
Daylight's For The Birds (+) - remind me of that special wonderful spot where '80s and '90s 'alternative' music intersected and gave us bands like The Jesus and Mary Chain
Die Romantik (+) - their sound is being finely tuned...evolving...very similar to what it's been in the past but now with teeth
The Diggs (+) - some 90's college radio rock, emo, and some British music influences...a taste of The Verve and Sugar
Dracula Zombie USA (+) - combining live drums and drum machines with samples, synths, loops, guitars, vocals, and lord knows what else...music that's equally interesting, fun, and moving
Emma La Reina (+) - tasteful angular guitar blended with shoegaze notions and topped with dreamy female vocals
Fanuelle (+) - I like peculiar...a little Stephin Merritt, Syd Barrett, Burt Bacharach, Serge Gainsbourg, or Pulp
Goes Cube (+) - sets out to fearlessly go wherever they want to, perhaps beyond where other bands dare...one of the best live bands in NYC
Higgins (+) - Beatles, Beatles, Beatles...great balance within the band, great balance from rocking songs to more quiet ones
The Isles (+) - along the lines of The Smiths meet Pavement & Blur...pop driven romantic melancholy rock that groove as much as they jangle
Levy (+) - catchy and melodic...the kind of material that should easily grab them more attention as their reach expands beyond NYC
Limbs (+) - reminded of...early Folk Implosion and Slint...informed by angular post-punk yet aims to achieve a certain kind of quiet indie-rock/pop
Love As Laughter (+) - sweet ass home-groove indie-rock a la Malkmus, Neil Young
Katelyn Maier (+) - an amazing voice...reminded me of some kind of cross between Natalie Merchant and Kristin Hersh
Man in Gray (+) - I love a band with two guitars...love a great female lead vocalist...a roaring cover of "Twentieth Century Boy" by T. Rex...fucking hot shit
Mancino (+) - they blend '60s pop and jazz sensibilities with time changes and an indie-rock attack reminiscent of Pavement
Mobius Band (+) - their electro pop rock quickly turned me into a fan
The Muggabears (+) - fit very nicely into the indie-rock family tree someplace between Silver Jews and Sonic Youth and manage to pull off their sound without seeming derivative
Murder Mystery (+) - sounds that seem to stem from a late 50's/early 60's pop-rock sensibility...from the same influences that made George Harrison play guitar the way that he did
The Nailbiters (+) - reminiscent of Bishop Allen and Wilco...good solid American indie pop-rock
Nous Non Plus (+) - all dance dance hot sexy French indie-pop
Other Passengers (+) - will rule your world...a sound that will knock you on your ass and make your head spin
A Passing Feeling (+) - this music has a sense of urgency to it...sounds like Jeep Wranglers and bikinis
The Picture (+) - something you don't see a whole lot of these days...a singer who can definitely sing (the rest of the band rocks socks off too)
Pink Noise (+) - rocked and jammed like Sonic Youth of 15 years ago
Proton Proton (+) - these guys are really excellent and they make me want to dance and they make me want to wreck shit and they make me want to go 'la la la la'
The Rapture (+) - I like The Rapture...I feel like they get a bad rap (ha!) sometimes though
Royal Arms (+) - some Mike Campbell in the guitar work, a pinch of Greg Hawkes in the keys...an overall Spoon-ness
The Secret Life of Sofia (+) - I could see some of the songs by The Secret Life of Sofia being the soundtrack to the wintry landscape paintings by Caspar David Friedrich
Slowlands (+) - a very full, well thought-out, sound often characterized by building songs from gentle beginnings to explosive climaxes
The Song Corporation (+) - show was a blast, had a pretty sweet balance between mellow songs/female vocals and more rocking songs/male vocals, and they had all kinds of people dancing and grooving along
Split Over Drapes (+) - listless but with purpose...interesting arrangements and choices, lyrics/vocals I like, and a well defined sound of their own
Susu (+) - one of those bands that makes me want to start a record label just so I can be sure (they're) recording more music and getting it out there for more people to hear
Takka Takka (+) - reminded me of Velvet Underground/Lou Reed, and Bob Dylan a bit too, but their music veers much more towards the pop side of those artists
Tigercity (+) - poised to fit nicely next to LCD Soundsystem and Daft Punk in the playlists of daring-enough-to-dance cool kids everywhere
The Unsacred Hearts (+) - their ideal fanbase...this imaginary gang that wears old black leather jackets and black jeans and walks around drinking Mickey's grenades...throwing the empties at people

Bands from elsewhere:
Lily Allen (+) - catchy/ irresistible blend of ska/reggae, old-school soul, and solid, fun, pop
The Alright Ma's (+) - stripped down Zeppelin-esque blues song...it's over-the-top and I love it
The Apparitions (+) - within no time I was singing along, imagining listening to the song on my iPod whilst commuting, and thinking of how many people I know would like this song
Arthur & Yu (+) - some of the best vocals I've heard anywhere in a while...in the realm of certain songs by The Velvet Underground (w/ Nico) or Lee Hazelwood & Nancy Sinatra
Ash Tree (+) - in line with stuff by Lou Barlow or Daniel Johnston...and some of it even reminds me of demo tracks from that Nirvana box set
At Dusk (+) - more better than good/sweet and tasty like candy canes
Beangrowers (+) - hearing things much more interesting than your average neo-new wave sound-a-like...think more PJ Harvey and Elastica
Bella (+) - male/female vocals and a...groovy synth/guitar indie pop-rock sound that begs you to just have fun
Birdmonster (+) - something that finds a happy place between classic 70's rock and post-punk
Black Nasty (+) - chances are, it'll either offend the heck out of you or really make you laugh. Me? I enjoy it bunches
Billy Bragg (+) - I picked up the Billy Bragg boxset Vol. 1 and it's well worth owning if you're a fan
Brakes (+) - Brakes sound a bit like Pixies...and maybe a bit like Camper Van Beethoven...
Captain of Industry (+) - I've been listening to their stuff on MySpace and have found the songs both pleasing to my ears and interesting
Cansei De Ser Sexy (+) - I went to the store, bought the album, came home and listened to it immediately, and loved it
Clementine Broadcast (+) - fun, melodic, upbeat music that's catchy and full of smart harmonies
Cloud Cult (+) - Pitchfork gave Cloud Cult's album Advice from the Happy Hippopotamus an 8.3 - perhaps proof that Pitchfork is not as narcissistically irrelevant as I previously had thought
Golden Smog (+) - a fantastic song for a nice summer day like today
Happycasio! (+) - for a slightly very recent comparison, they sound like an English Tapes 'n Tapes
Noah Harrison (+) - atmosphere, mood, longing, reflection...it's hard to not...to be reminded of Nick Drake
Richard Hawley (+) - mellow tender throwback songs
The Heights (+) - the kind of stuff you heard more of in the 90's, the kind of stuff that makes for some great beer drinking music
John & Jehn (+) - why should I even bother trying to tell you any more about them other than take my word for it and check them out?
Kim Novak (+) - make me think of songs by some really outstanding bands that I love, bands like The Cure, Interpol, and The Velvet Underground
Lesley Lane (+) - a hint of a connection to the sound that has made The Dears favorites of mine
The Lovely Feathers (+) - their music is concentrated and groovy: it'll get your ass moving and won't bore you
Low Lustre (+) - soaring vocals and guitars that remind me of the things The Walkmen obviously liked about early U2
Machine Go Boom (+) - roots planted in acoustic based experimental pop rock and would probably appeal to people who like bands such as Camper Van Beethoven and Dead Milkmen
Man Man (+) - like seeing/hearing the thoughts of a musically-minded mad scientist played out by a group of wandering minstrels
The Melody Function (+) - hints of The Kinks, The Beach Boys, and that song from True Romance
Mull Historical Society (+) - reminded of XTC and Tears for Fears and The Flaming Lips a bit, but that's probably only because of the grand scope of this music
OMR (+) - you'll hear their Black Box Recorder-ish electro-pop songs and fall in love with them
Peasant (+) - beautiful, delicate, catchy, folk-pop...think of songs by The Kinks or Paul Simon
People in Planes (+) - their sound (some bits Radiohead, some Supergrass, something their own too) is sure to soon be guided towards making tweens happy and filling arena seats
The Pine Club (+) - remind me a bit of The Housemartins or The Connells or The Judybats
Planes For Spaces (+) - they were about rocking some faces with the classic small venue raw set-up of one guy on drums, one on guitar
Pleasant (+) - I hear a little Pavement, Feelies, and even some Three Imaginary Boys era Cure in their songs
Pretty Girls Make Graves (+) - Pretty Girls Make Graves is one of my favorite US bands.
Sam Roberts Band (+) - reminds me a bit of The Beta Band mixed with Blind Melon
The Sames (+) - sounds like Blur meets Arcade Fire...mmmm
Schooner (+) - Schooner was really great live...it was pretty cool to hear their songs in more pure/raw form
Victor Scott (+) - as each song carves a worthy sonic path through the thick brush of your mind remember that it's all the work of one guy
Sebadoh (+) - one of my favorite bands ever and was one of the only American bands that held my interest for very long in the '90s
Shade (+) - some very nice British infused neo-shoegaze
The Sky Drops (+) - considerable skill with creating full, lush sounds...music you'd not think was being made by a two-piece band
Kelley Stoltz (+) - amazing that this music is all the work of one man, stop avoiding this guy
Strip Squad (+) - carefree and catchy electro pop that's part Belle and Sebastian and part Looper
Tapes 'n Tapes (+) - these guys make rock music that is interesting and comes out sounding FRESH in a world full of bland
The Televangelist and The Architect (+) - their sound does indeed fit somewhere right in between Cursive, Bright Eyes and The Faint
Tennis and the Mennonites (+) - their blend of acoustic singer-songwriter pop stuff mixed with plugged in indie-rock sounds really nice in the early summer sun
Track A Tiger (+) - a '97 Brunello of the indie music world...music that must've gestated for a while before finally being recorded and sent out for the public to enjoy
The Vorstand Circus (+) - strikes that most perfect balance of clever production and songwriting coupled with smart melodies and blissful harmonies that guide you through personal lyrics
We Versus the Shark (+) - this band freaking ROCKS
Katharine Whalen (+) - jazzy lounge with a bit of Moroccan club influence and her voice sounds heavenly, as usual
Wilderness (+) - Public Image Limited for the 21st century...and beyond
Tim Young (+) - I could actually see Tim's a cappella version appearing in a hipster Sesame Street with a bunch of colorful furry monsters singing all the backup (and intro) vocal parts

(originally posted at 10:04am EST, this post was expanded and updated at 2:42pm EST)