I don’t know about you, but I am so damn sick of hearing s*** music everywhere I turn. Indie is now pop, bad gangsta rap and cheap euro trash dance have taken over the charts, one-hit-wonders are all over the shop and I can’t breathe. Yes there are exceptions who are HUGE artists (e.g. Lady GaGa, Adele, Chase & Status etc) who differentiate the fantastic from the shockingly bad (i.e. The Wanted, Cher Lloyd, JLS etc). You could almost merge a few songs of the chart together and you wouldn’t know the difference. So here’s my big contradiction – we need the crap in a twisted, irritating sort of way to set the absolutely bloody brilliant apart!
Thank the lord, there are some ‘angry’ (yes, I am slightly over-dramatising…) artists uprising and hopefully going to show the chart-hoggers how it’s done. This selection of new artists and bands I have discovered over the past couple of months have given me hope for the future.
Well, hopefully...
First and foremost ANNA CALVI has been the most exciting new artist (apart from James Blake) I have come across this year (she is signed to Domino Records, the same label as Arctic Monkeys). She is a singer-songwriter and plays guitar, VERY well may I be hasten to add (check out her song "I’ll Be Your Man" on a technical level, yes it IS her who is playing and does me proud as a fellow female guitarist!). Her voice is exquisite and intriguing and just everything a great vocal should be. She claims to have had massive vocal inspiration from the Parisian legend Edith Piaf and covered Piaf’s version of the song ‘Jezebel’ and released it as a single. I suggest you all watch Calvi’s performance of the song at Glastonbury this year, you WILL have chills by the end. I cannot cease to rave and ramble about this woman. The fact I know she will be in this industry for the long run or at least wants to be just fills me with happiness. I would give you one song to start you off but just buy the album (her self-titled debut is OUT NOW). You won’t be disappointed. She is the future!
Okay maybe just to give you a little test run, listen to "Suzanne & I" (my personal favourite) and "Blackout", her most popular single so far.
Look – she’s bloody stylish too.
EDWARD SHARPE & THE MAGNETIC ZEROS and FOSTER THE PEOPLE have quite a similar sound but hail Mary, the sound is good! That sort of folky and happy yet edgy sound, with a high tessitura of male vocal – a bit like Peter Bjorn & John who are most known for their song "Young Folks". Foster The People are however, are slightly more electronic sounding. Songs I would suggest hearing are "Pumped Up Kicks" and "Houdini" – Foster The People AND "Janglin" and "40 Day Dream" – Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros (I love the lead-vocalists Lennon-esque voice!). The music is quite feel-good, I think, but in a subtle and clever way.
The next artist I want to talk about is GHOSTPOET. He is supposedly a rapper but his stage name, I would say, is the perfect description for his collective sound. His articulation sounds almost drunken, in the way speech is slurred. But this is not done pretentiously, but actually very passionately. His voice is full of melancholy and is rather beautiful, a bit like Maxi Jazz of Faithless, it is half way between speaking and singing. His harsh and honest lyrics in collaboration with the Chillout beats and dark chord progressions are delicious. Check out Ghostpoet’s tracks- "Cash And Carry Me Home" and "Run Run Run".
This Irishman’s voice is just bursting with husk and soul – JAMES VINCENT MCMORROW. He just writes good old-fashioned solid songs that sound great on record but even more amazing live, with just acoustic guitar and vocals. Check out McMorrow’s acoustic performance of his song "Follow You Down" at Latitude for an example of this. I love the use of luscious harmonies in his music. He just has such a beautiful voice with the tunes to back it up. Listen to "This Old Dark Machine" and "We Don’t Eat".
Yet another Irishman to have wowed me. You may already be familiar with this artist, who featured on brit rapper Professor Green’s Dubstep smash "Jungle". MAVERICK SABRE has such an unusual voice, very soulful and rich. Almost like a male Amy Winehouse (may she rest in peace). His sound is also quite like Amy’s, in that sort of motown-esque yet simultaneously fresh and urban way. His song "Let Me Go" was the track to really grab my attention…keep your eyes peeled people, I can see a top-ten hit coming our way. The song samples one of my favourite tracks of all time "Glory Box" by the Electronic legends Portishead. It samples the song a lot, which can sometimes be a bad thing but at least Maverick has taste and has made a whole new sound out of it. Also listen to the song "Look What I Done".
Here are a few more tracks by up and coming artists that I feel are very promising and reassuring:
ALEX CLARE – Too Close…he mixes soul/RnB melodies with dubstep beats, which is a touch that I’m really liking.
RIZZLE KICKS are getting quite a lot of commercial attention since their song "Down With The Trumpets" was used as the theme for the iTunes Festival TV programme and is now in the UK top ten. However, I suggest you also listen to their super laid-back tune "Miss Cigarette". I LOVE their sound. It’s so refreshing and original!
I’m sure you’re all very familiar with the rapper Drake? If you’re a fan, you’re gonna love this guy – THE WEEKND. The fellow Canadian artist has worked a lot with Drake, which you will instantly be able to tell when you hear the music. Drake features on the song "The Zone". I love the marriage between the chillout vibe and the modern RnB vocal, I love his constant use of falsetto. The Weeknd's new album ‘Thursday’ is available for OFFICIAL free download, here’s the link:
http://the-weeknd-xo.com/2011/08/18/the-weeknd-thursday-download/
The Production on this record is sublime. ‘The Life Of The Party’ is a good example of this.
Hope you’re as excited as I am about this lot. Enjoy the closing leg of the summer people. Love and Peace…
Ms. B
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