I only started this place this past February. Since then, I’ve been really lucky to find some great artists through Tumblr alone. One of the first bands to pop up were The Tuts. I can clearly remember the first listen of “I Call You Up”, and I knew then that it wouldn’t be the last.
I’ve somehow only managed to see them live once, but it was one of the best concerts of the year for me. The entire line-up (Colour Me Wednesday, Feralus and Perkie) were clearly tightly knit with each other, and that sense of community gets lost sometimes. It made the entire night a lot of fun.
Some people may have heard of them through unfortunate events that the band did clearly not deserve to be involved in. I hope if that is the case, you at least gave them a proper listen and got something positive out of it.
Through all of the nonsense they’ve had to deal with, they worked hard never the less. They’ve even released their self-titled EP, which is available here.
Like I said in my original post, this is a band that is on to something big. Watch out for them next year.
Noisy garage pop trio from Manchester. They originally started out on the idea that they would only play shows on Valentines Day, but it eventually turned into a full time project.
I was going to post the video for “Emails” due to its adorable internet cafe setting (see here), but this one wins out purely because I lived in Blackpool as a kid and love a bit of nostalgia.
Yes, this has a very X-Ray Spex sound to it, but since when was that a bad thing?
You know when you come across a band and the next thing you find out about them is that they broke up only a short time ago? Well, that’s happened. Again.
Das Wanderlust were self described as “wrong pop” which of course means, pop music gone wrong. They’re all over the place in terms of what is happening, but it works. They were in a weird space somewhere between C86 and AIDS Wolf.
They were also keen on pairing their lo-fi racket with lo-fi videos, such as this ghost filled affair. It just had to be posted here.
I have always maintained that Charlotte Hatherley is severely underrated. Before I started this blog, I had posted about her in various other places. I have gone on many rants wondering why she’s not held up in as high regard as she deserves. I wrote in a zine about it.
So… I started this place in February and I have yet to write anything about her here? Ouch.
Most people will know Charlotte as the ex-guitarist from Ash, although she did join them again for a recent tour. Others will recognize her as the band leader behind people like Bat For Lashes. I see her has one of my favourite guitarists and songwriters.
I have been listening to her solo work since Grey Will Fade came out, which was in 2004. I still haven’t heard anything like what she does. I think she could easily write the perfect pop song but refuses to because she probably finds it to be too boring. Some of her songs have so many layers that even after a few dozen listens, you’ll find something else you missed.
Even more recently, on her more grown up efforts, such as “Alexander”, she refuses to fit in one bracket alone. That single in particular starts out easily enough, but once you’re at the chorus it’s gone a bit sideways.
As of the moment she’s working under the name Sylver Tongue which is a lot more synth heavy than previous efforts. That’s for another post, though.
I have been going between “Kim Wilde” and “Bastardo” for what to actually post here for those who need the first introduction. Well, technically they’re all readily available and everybody should listen to all of them and buy all of her albums. Ahem. Bastardo wins out because of its fantastic video, which features some very fun cameos.
This band is relatively new, having only formed at the tail end of last year. I had heard of them, but I never got around to looking them up. Meanwhile, for some reason I haven’t been getting any inbox notifications, so I checked it today to find a message recommending them.
I am tempted just to mash the keyboard in all caps due to the fact that it’s what usually happens when someone gets excited about something on the internet.
The vocals! I am so in love with the vocals here. I can’t immediately think of a good comparison for them, which can only be a good thing. The rumbling drums make such a great pairing.
I am so happy that they’re from London, too. Hopefully I can see them play a show sometime soon. I look forward to finding out how their live performance is shaping up.
The Rotters were booked for their first show before they had even formed. Apparently it was a bit of a joke that was taken too far. So far in fact that they ended up releasing a single.
This band is notably the side project of Horrors frontman Faris, when he was still using the name Rotter (and The Horrors weren’t all serious business). He actually played drums though, admittedly not very well, but that was sort of the point. The rest of the band was made up of Dylan “Rotter” on vocals, “Robot” Jess on bass, and Emily “Rotter” on guitar. Emily would later be in Boys Of Brazil.
This wasn’t a serious band in the least, and that’s what made them so great. Half of them could barely play, they never practiced, and their songs were mostly made up on the spot.
This is from their only release (surprise, surprise) Japanese Punk. I actually have this buried somewhere, and yes, that is the real artwork.
Zoëtrøpe are a London based three piece no wave band, who formed last year. They have been consistent on the local gig circuit since their formation, slowly but surely building a cult following. As a special bonus to their first single, they gave away free pairs of personalized pants with giant “Z“‘s on the butt. D.I.Y lives.
This is the release in question and is available to download here.
A few posts ago I mentioned the Female Takeover cover video that Envy was involved with (I’m still obsessed with it). That being how I discovered Amplify Dot (A.Dot), who stole the whole show with a line which was essentially just her growling “VAGINA! Monologues!” Seriously, as awesome as the rest of the other artists contributing were, it was hard to top that.
I’m displeased to find such little press for her, as she’s clearly ready to deliver something massive. While I’m not going to pretend I know anything about “flow” (in fact it seems almost embarrassing for me to even type the word), hers is charismatic, clever and most importantly, unique. The world may possibly, finally, be catching on that there are more female MCs than the noted two or three. If anyone deserves to be hyped up, it’s this woman.
Best line: “I’m a phone pranker, Seymour Butts.”. All the awards.
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