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Listen To: Strange Birds
A long long long long time ago, before the wind, before the snow, I discovered a band called Strange Birds. In fact, it was less of a discovery and more of a their-ep-was-sent-to-me-to-review, which I did here. However, skipping the exact details of how I discovered them, what a fantastic discovery / email that was; I fell in love with the drawling Californians with their echoy guitars and lazy vocals. It was probably my favourite release in the whole of 2010.
Well now, like some kind of band or something, they’ve only gone and released a new EP. I’ve only had a couple of listens and all the hallmarks of the first record are there, even if they’re now buried in (slightly) more energy, more guitar layers, more dynamics. If one can be buried in dynamics. Anyway, it’s embedded in this post so treat your ears to something that you might not otherwise hear. And if you like it, buy it. After all, they’re as great as they’ve always been.
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Listen To : Bear’s Den
Some time ago, Music Gob featured the now defunct folk rock band Cherbourg. The last thing that seemed to have happened was that they mysteriously split up around 2009 and lead singer / songwriter Andrew Davie was left trying to make it on his own. In fact on further reading, there are some rumours that it was Davie who split the band up to persue a solo career (and to complete his dream of visiting every chip shop in the country). Whatever the facts, here he is singing in a yet another chippy he managed to visit:
‘Stubborn Beast’ - Andrew Davie
Perhaps Davie didn’t really want to visit every chip shop in the country, but it is true that his solo career ended as suddenly as it started. No more live dates to be found, twitter feed deleted, internet presence vanished.
But lo! all is well as news from the folk music blog Timber and Steel as well as some other online gossip has declared that Davie and co. have thankfully reformed under the new moniker Bear’s Den. The original Cherbourg line up (minus a fiddle player) feature in this new band and whilst I cleverly missed the few live dates they announced on the Bear’s Den website, they also provided a teaser track which was nice. You can listen to it here:
Fickle Love - Bear’s Den
When I know more, I will tell more. Until then, do a few youtube searches for further tracks and videos to keep yourselves entertained.
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Listen To: Oberhofer
I randomly discovered Oberhofer quite a while back during a prolonged internet surfing session. This Brooklyn based band are headed up by Brad Oberhofer (see what he did there?) who is sickeningly young, talented and writes infectious punky pop like this (give it a listen, it’s even got a kazoo in it):
o0Oo0Oo - Oberhofer
Oberhofer first appeared on Music Gob about six months ago but after the great blog deletion of two weeks ago, the article was lost in the cyber void. Nonetheless it seems fitting to write about them again as not only are they a great band but they’ve blown up quite a bit in the last few months as more people hear their ramshackle songs.
I Could Go - Oberhofer
Late last year the band managed to cross the water and did a one off gig at The Windmill in Brixton. Although I knew about this in advance and live near the venue, I didn’t go because I was tired from work. Yep, that’s right. Tired. I regret that one daily, especially as I missed seeing their song AWAY FRM U performed live:
AWAY FRM U - Oberhofer
The band is all over the internet these days and if you want more, I’d recommend you watch a great set of interviews and videos on Noisey.com with Oberhofer. Of course, if you still like to pretend it’s seven years ago, visit Oberhofer’s myspace or just type their name into google. Come on, you know what to do.
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Listen To: Gretta Gun
Crazy, dark electro beats with less crazy, less dark female vocals. It’s all rather good. Have a listenbelow this equally good album cover. In conclusion: Good.
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Listen To: My Cousin I Bid You Farewell
I discovered My Cousin I Bid You Farewell (MCIBYF) some time ago from poking around the internet with a big stick, looking under stuff. And amongst the hundreds of terrible unsigned (and signed) bands that scuttled around in the damp, dark undergrowth, there they were. Well, I saw “they” but MCIBYF is actually the brainchild of singular Scottish talent Jonathan Sebastian Knight (this also adds weight to my theory that Scotland produces the best music on the planet, but more on that another time).
Anyway, out of all the chance discoveries I’ve made, MCIBYF is probably the best. The music is both introspective and spiky, often superbly grandiose and is lyrically sophisticated. Vocals flit somewhere between Conor Oberst’s emotional wail and Anthony and the Johnsons’ warbling droll. Whatever, it’s all fantastic. Dissection is unnecessary. If you don’t believe me, watch and listen to the damning evidence below:
I truly encourage further listening, as the more you dig, the better it gets:
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Listen To: Cherbourg
Well, I’d say listen, but they’re now defunct. Split up. They are an ex-band. So why mention it? Well for starters their music lives on and it’s superb. Most of it can be found on Spotify and the Cherbourg myspace is still up. They also managed to get one video out before splitting for their single ‘Man’.
I could never work out if they were unsigned. I’m certain they were when I caught them playing in Camden one random night. Perhaps they had a small label supporting them, after all they supported Mumford & Sons in 2008 (for their sins). Yet Cherbourg were never just just folk clichés and produced atmospheric and introspective songs seemingly effortlessly.
Thankfully, singer Andrew Davie’s continued with his song writing prowess and you can have a poke about his myspace profile here.
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Listen To: Birds of Passage
I can’t remember how I discovered solo artist Birds of Passage but she’s seriously great. Hailing from New Zealand she produces ethereal, atmospheric and dreamy songs that are amaze balls. Take a listen to her track ‘We’ll Always Have Paris’ from her soundcloud page right here:
birds of passage + Roof Light - South Downs by Morning by birds of passage
Also check out her myspace and twitter for further info and musical immersion.
Come because of the music, leave because of the writing.
*SAXOPHONE SOLO*
