Previous parts can be found here: One // Two // Three // Four // Five
Fear of Men
I recently called Esben and the Witch my favourite Brighton band so I'll call Fear of Men my favourite south-coast new band (although I think half the band are London based), either way I'm not one for geographical based disputes, I say I'm from London when I live 25 miles outside for a start and lived in the Midlands for over 2/3 of my life (currently), the UK based (there, debate over) four piece have caused quite the stir from the birth of their early demo tape featuring the endearing indie-pop beauty "Phantom Limb", full of fuzzed up energy, jangly guitars and gorgeous ethereal vocals. It took the blogging scene by storm early this year and has had the band on my 'ones to watch' lists ever since.
The followed it up with the stunning "Ritual Confession" 7" and more recently 'Alice Munro Demos', the lead track "Doldrums" is the polar-opposite of its title; shimmery, swirling guitar lines lead the way with Jess's voice possible the most beautiful we've heard it yet back by gentle rat-a-tat drums. I've still only seen them once (well and the last 30 seconds of another gig after travelling across London from elsewhere hoping to catch them - I didn't), so that is something to be corrected next year. Hopefully they'll be plenty of chances to do just that, as well as some new releases to drool over too.
Fear of Men - Ritual Confession from Josh Cowdry on Vimeo.
iamamiwhoami
iamamiwhoami, arguably the largest act on my tips list by some distance has created a plethora of fanboy attention and blogging hypebole thanks to a mysterious viral Internet launch that took quite some time to discover as the work of Jonna Lee, she / they've (still no conclusive evidence to know if it's an act lead by Jonna or the work of Jonna) have still only played one gig, in Stockholm in August and spent 2011 relatively quiet, though managing to release one of the best tracks of the year in "John", which along with the exquisite 2010 EP 'B-O-U-N-T-Y' leads iamamiwhoami, in my view, to be one of the most compelling acts of today.
Her combination of innovative, boundary pushing ambitions, creative (and frankly creepily weird) artistry through imaginative use of natural landscapes and sexually suggestive metaphors in her videos and some of the best synth-based atmospheric / Knife-esque electro soundscapes I've ever heard is equally spectacular and captivating. Everything so far has been so polished, so perfect, there's clearly someone with deep purse strings behind the project. Yet one big question remains... Will 2012 see iamamiwhoami finally break all the Houdini antics and play some real shows, release something physical and justify all the hype? I think so and I cannot wait.
Iamamiwhoami: y
Let's Buy Happiness
One of the (two) carry forwards from my tips for 2011, Let's Buy Happiness had a fine 2011 as I reported a couple of weeks back, their two released singles "Fast Fast" and "Dirty Lakes" were equally shimmering, joyous and celestial, there have been numerous well received gigs and a growing army of fans yet we've been made been made to wait for the debut album, which gives me every reason to firmly believe that 2012 promises to be the year.
There have been a few previews, "Clean Mistake", "Skinny Moon" and "Crooks" have all be staples in the live set for a few months and promise big, big things. If you want a cheeky look in at their live set, head here for an eight song set at London's XOYO a little while back - delicious.
I don't need to add much more, LBH are in the top ten of my most featured acts on this blog, if you're late to the party, listen below and fall in love.
Fast Fast by letsbuyhappiness
No comments:
Post a Comment