6 Awesome Bands You Need To Know Now
I’m so thrilled with the response from my first post. Even the international music community came out strong – yes, international! I received submissions from as far away as the Philippines!
I spent a few very exciting hours going through all of it. As I’d hoped for, there were artists in many genres. Rap, ambient, R&B, rock, brostep (maybe not an actual genre), etc.
I have a couple of general comments. A lot of artists are having their stuff professionally recorded. A studio is a great tool. Access to a recording engineer is a great opportunity. However, to give the music a “modern” sound, a lot of it was compressed to the point of brickwalling. A lot of top-end distortion is not pleasant to listen to! In several cases (not in today’s picks) it took away from the music.
Talk to your producers/engineers! Tell them not to compress you to oblivion.
That said, I had a blast with the first round.
These are your jams.
Some Gifts – Break The Cycle
From the artist: Some Gifts is a new three-piece rock/alternative/indie band from Los Angeles, CA. We started five months ago and just completed (today) our self-recorded EP, “All These Ghosts.” We’ll be playing shows in the LA area over the next few months, starting next Friday, November 15th at the Crest Bar in La Crescenta, CA.
From Me: This song is currently stuck in my head – a great piece of guitar rock. Well produced, too. A bit of a Ted Leo vibe here.
Bio/website: http://somegiftsband.com/#5c8/custom_plain
Bandcamp: http://somegifts.bandcamp.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/somegifts
Malice and Mario Sweet – Flo Joe
From The Artist: Malice and Mario Sweet are a husband and wife duo with a varied collection of good mood music drawing inspiration from the carefree nature and outsized characters of the ‘80s. The musical stylings range from slinky neo-soul to candy-paint funk to bounce-influenced hip hop to smooth grooves, but all come from a place of happiness: happiness with life, happiness with love, and happiness with being in love.
From Me: Think a dance inspired fusion of Prince and D’angelo. This is purely awesome.
Website: www.malicemariosweet.com
Kim Logan – Black Magic Boy
From The Artist: Kim Logan was unearthed from the eerie swamps of Sarasota, Florida with a guitar and over a decade of classical training. After making appearances in the classical opera scenes of both Boston and New York, Kim followed her gut to Nashville to combine the theatrics of opera and vaudeville with the soul of country and rock and roll, and to form a fully-fledged “concept career” of performance and art in all forms. From the delta blues to the psychedelic ‘60s, from the golden years of classic country to the perfect rock & roll of mid-century Britain, Kim illustrates her roots through her original music. In the dark and mysterious gentleman’s club of old rock & roll, Kim is the new queen.
From Me: Take the Adele’s soulfulness and replace her music’s somber temperament with some Southern rock crunch and attitude. Great female response to Fleetwood Mac’s classic “Black Magic Woman” (made more popular by Santana).
Website: www.kimlogan.net
Music Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-f8_8MeY_m8
Star and The Sea – Winter in New York
https://soundcloud.com/dominiquestar/winter-in-new-york-music-video
From the artist: Sounds like – a Lisa Frank notebook that’s been left out in the rain. Based in Brooklyn, Star and the Sea is the solo project of Dominique Star, a recent graduate of Columbia University. She began writing songs when she studied abroad in Paris and generally writes about anything from dysfunctional relationships to wet-blanket friends who don’t ever want to leave their houses.
From me: This is not normally the kind of thing I like. The refrain has such a memorable harmony – not to mention a great impromptu performance video that I could not exclude it in good faith. Listen for it in the next iPhone commercial.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPjwTe45wc8
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/dominiquestar
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dominiquestarmusic
dsr – The Original Magic
From The Artist: dsr is Sean Ross, a san francisco based electronic musician/producer/recording engineer and creative director. He’s been making music since he was a kid.
From Me: Great soundscapes. I was blasting this and got totally lost in the textures.
Soundcloud: www.soundcloud.com/dsr
Spotify: dsr
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/dsr/id724717694
BeachComa – Jackie Baby
https://soundcloud.com/beachcoma-1/jackie-baby
From the artist: We’re from Scotland.. Joel plays guitar and sings, cammy plays lead guitar and Simon plays drums.. We roughly recorded these tunes after a wild night.. Hope you enjoy listening.
From Me: I just found this so endearing. There are little mistakes here and there, and the musicians were probably hammered. The production is amateur, but shows how much you can do with a few microphones and some creativity. The singer sounds like the Scottish Ray Davies.
Soundcloud: www.soundcloud.com/beachcoma-1
Those were the jams, as submitted by you! Keep the submissions coming to thesearethejams@gmail.com – I can’t wait to hear more!