06 August 2007

Don't You (Forget About Me)

Once again, this list is long overdue. What you'll see below covers all of the artists/bands featured on EAR FARM (since the last time one of these was posted) through the end of July 2007. This excludes the weekly features (such as Three For Free, 8+) and is more about bands that have gotten a band-specific write-up on EF. The 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.

New York based bands:
Beat the Devil (+) - sultry dark dirgey folk rock that climbs into your mind and never lets go
Frauke (+) - 100% music... sounding of a garage band, very much Frauke for Frauke's sake, and better than the music that you've heard elsewhere that made you think "yuck"
Michael Higbee (+) - an extremely talented singer-songwriter originally from Paris... currently making a name for himself playing gigs around New York showcasing his adept one man, two guitar parts playing style and excellent voice
La Laque (+) - a French infused band from New York who create music full of lofty atmospheric melodies and breathy vocals
Gabriel Miller-Phillips (+) - a gentle folk strum and wandering picking style (a bit Jerry Garcia if I might) perfectly complement his softly soaring voice
The Shondes (+) - a perfect blend of punk and gypsy folk music that comes across as both beautiful and enlivening
Alina Simone (+) - magical combination of tone, content, and composition... the vocals are bloody amazing
Umami (+) - a guitar-less happy place... an in between zone where they've combined the low end growl of Death From Above 1979 (I also hear a certain Trans Am-itude at work, and, to be frank, quite a bit of Peter Hook in the bass playing) with the understated rhythmic vocal grace of Pinback

Bands from elsewhere:
Bat For Lashes (+) - songs full of haunting sexual imagery highlighted by gorgeous ethereal vocals
Bowerbirds (+) - a world of beauty and harmony and mother nature and creation, but also of melancholy and darkness and pain
Ben Clarke (+) - an artist with a sense of honesty in his songs and a grasp of musical influence from the past as well as the present
Clint (+) - unique blend of Bloc Party meets Queens of the Stone Age meets Placebo
In Miniature (+) - sound like aimless cross-country wandering brought on by heartbreak, but in a friendly sense... the wandering is friendly I mean, not the heartbreak
Mono in VCF (+) - magical cinematic pop sound... the sound of lonely romantic yearnings played out through the camera lens of your mind
The Rosebuds (+) - rousing and irresistible pop
Sister Vanilla (+) - along the lines of what we all know and love about the legendary music from the brothers Reid (except this time there's wonderfully ethereal vocals from Linda that blend perfectly with the music) and is every bit as interesting and listenable as you might expect
So! (+) - melancholic distorted dissonance and chugging steam locomotive riffs
The Swimmers (+) - there's something irresistibly personal in this music and I'd highly suggest keeping an eye on this band if you're a fan of music along the lines of The Shins or The New Pornographers
The Ting Tings (+) - not your run of the mill male/female duo, The Ting Tings sound much more like Gwen Stefani mixed with M.I.A. and CSS than they do The White Stripes, or Matt and Kim

To see the entire list of over 150 bands/artists that have been featured on EAR FARM click HERE.

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